Comparing two constructs for describing and analyzing teachers’ diagnostic processes

Different constructs describe and analyze teachers’ diagnostic processes, in which situation-specific diagnostic skills are utilized to solve challenging situations of teaching and learning in class. This study compares two constructs—professional vision and diagnostic activities—with regard to their suitability for coding and analyzing data collected from interviews using think-aloud protocols with five in-service teachers, who worked in the video-based assessment tool DiKoBi Assess. For data collection, teachers watched a videotaped classroom situation on the biology-specific challenges level of students’ cognitive activities and creation of situational interest that both count as important subject-specific dimensions of instructional quality. Interviews using think-aloud protocols were transcribed and coded with distinct category systems for each construct. Analysis of coded data showed that both constructs covered several aspects of the diagnostic process. A crosstabulation of the coded data revealed that the combination of both constructs was best suited to describe and analyze the diagnostic process.