An Analysis of the Association between Subject Matter Knowledge and Pedagogical Content Knowledge for Science Teachers: The Case of Earth Science Teachers' Lesson on Atmospheric Pressure

The purpose of this study was to investigate the association between subject matter knowledge (SMK) and pedagogical content knowledge (PCK) for science teachers. To this end, a total of 26 secondary Earth science teachers participated in this study and a concept diagnostic questionnaire and a lesson planning task of atmospheric pressure were devised to give an indication of participating teachers' SMK and PCK, respectively. The results of this study are summarized as follows: First, participating teachers showed a variety of SMK levels about atmospheric pressure. Second, teachers at high level of SMK focused on ‘supplementary’ and ‘fundamental’ curriculum contents for in-depth conceptual understanding, but teachers at low level of SMK, on the contrary, stressed ‘applicative’ curriculum contents. Third, teachers at high level of SMK grasped students’ misconceptions and difficulties in learning atmospheric pressure far more concretely than teachers at low level of SMK. Lastly, teachers at high level of SMK showed a tendency to use learner-centered instructional strategy by utilizing students’ prior knowledge, but teachers at low level of SMK were inclined toward teacher-directed concept explanation. Based on this study, some implications for effective science teacher preparation programs were also discussed.

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