Video Didactics

Leading team

Project members

  • Dr. Avi Marzel, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem
  • Dr. Ruth Segal, Oranim Academic College
  • Dr. Roni Mualem, Levinsky College of Education, Kibbutzim College of Education
  • Dr. Amnon Hazan, Weizmann Institute of Science
  • Dr. Zvi Aricha, Ministry of Education physics teaching superintendence
  • Ms. Nitza Sion, Ministry of Education physics teaching superintendence
  • Dr. David Feichelfeld, David Yellin Academic College of Education

Summary

The Video-didactics (Vidactics for short) program is designed to train physics and mathematics teachers in moderating an inquisitive, exploratory, non-judgmental peer discourse (“a Vdidactic discourse”) with their colleagues. The peer discourse is based on authentic videos taken by the teachers in their own classes. The program, financed by the Trump Foundation, was initially launched in 2014 at the Kerem Institute for Teachers’ Training in Jerusalem. In 2016, it transferred to the Department of Science Teaching at the Weizmann Institute, where most of its development and implementation has occurred. About 1170 teachers have participated in advanced training sessions to introduce the program, of whom around 900 took part in 10-30 hour continuing education programs. Two websites have been developed for the program: One containing newly developed pertinent materials and the second supporting the moderators of the Vidactics training sessions.

The discourse developed in the program is an inquisitive, exploratory, non-judgmental discourse designed to increase the participants’ awareness of various interrelations between teaching and knowledge of the pedagogic content they teach. The participants jointly analyze anecdotes included in a video documentation presented by one of them, which leads to group learning of general issues related to the teaching of physics and mathematics. The Vidactic discourse is not feedback-oriented, designed to impart knowledge. Rather, it is based on the constructivist approach in education, where the learner (in this case the teacher) constructs and develops his or her knowledge. In the Vidactic discourse, the mentors take part in the professional development of their peers, applying their expertise to the joint exploration of the act of teaching. The discourse involves pairs or teams of teachers with similar or diverse status.

The programs and its principles have been presented in several international conferences and publications.

Our thanks to the Eddie and Jules Trump Family Foundation and the Ministry of Education for their support of the project.

Links for further reading

1.       Lehavi, Y., Merzel, A., Segal, R. and Jutkowitz, R. (2021). Introducing Pedagogical Content Awareness to Model Growth in the Context of Teacher Peer Mentoring. A paper presented at the 2021 AERA VIRTUAL ANNUAL MEETING | APRIL 8 – 12, 2021.

2.       Jutkowitz, R., Merzel, A., Segal, R. and Lehavi, Y. (2021). Curiosity-Driven Discourse as an Opportunity for Mentors’ Professional Growth as Teachers.  A paper presented at the 2021 AERA VIRTUAL ANNUAL MEETING | APRIL 8 – 12, 2021.

3.       Segal, R.,  Merzel, A., Lehavi, Y., and Jutkowitz, R. (2021). Heightening Teachers’ Professional Awareness in Video-Based Peer Discourse to Develop Specialized Content Knowledge. A paper presented at the 2021 AERA VIRTUAL ANNUAL MEETING | APRIL 8 – 12, 2021.

4.       Lehavi, Y., Merzel, A., Segal, R., Baram, A., & Eylon, B. S. (2019). Using Self-video-based Discourse in Training Physics Teachers. In Concepts, Strategies and Models to Enhance Physics Teaching and Learning (pp. 159-169). Springer, Cham.‏

5.       Merzel, A., Lehavi, Y., Segal, R., Baram A., Eylon B-S. (2018) “Elevating Physics Teachers’ Instruction Using Video-Based Didactics – A Model of Growth in Professional Awareness” Talk presented at the Conference of International Research Group on Physics Teaching (GIREP), San-Sebastian, Spain

6.     Segal. R., Lehavi. Y, Merzel. A., Baram. A., Eylon. B. (2018). Using self-video-based conversation in training mathematics teacher instructors. Accepted to Research Report. In Bergqvist, E., Österholm, M., Granberg, C., & Sumpter, L. (Eds.). (2018). Proceedings of the 42nd Conference of the International Group for the Psychology of Mathematics Education (Vol. 4 pp. 139-146). Umeå, Sweden: PME.