Teaching for Understanding: The complex nature of pedagogical content knowledge in pre‐service education

This paper explores the development of student‐teachers’ pedagogical content knowledge (PCK) during pre‐service education. Four student‐teachers in mathematics and science participated in a project teaching physics to students aged 9–11 years once a week over a 12‐month period. One‐third of the lessons were videotaped and the student‐teachers were later interviewed using the videotape for stimulated recall. Participants reflected on their classroom practice based on their conceptual understanding of physics. This empirical study emphasises the role of teaching experience and reflection in science teacher education as a way of better understanding the complex entities that constitute a knowledge base for teaching. The paper draws attention to the value of student‐teachers participating in experiences that might contribute to the development of their PCK and supports a view of PCK development as a process of transformation.

[1]  Marilyn McMeniman,et al.  Stimulated recall — An effective methodology for examining successful teaching in science , 1992 .

[2]  Kenneth M. Zeichner,et al.  Studying Teacher Education : The Report of the AERA Panel on Research and Teacher Education , 2005 .

[3]  Norman G. Lederman,et al.  Examining Pedagogical Content Knowledge , 2002 .

[4]  D. Schoen,et al.  The Reflective Practitioner: How Professionals Think in Action , 1985 .

[5]  Ken Appleton,et al.  How Do Beginning Primary School Teachers Cope with Science? Toward an Understanding of Science Teaching Practice , 2003 .

[6]  C. Geertz.  Thick Description: Towards an Interpretive Theory of Culture , 1973 .

[7]  J. Krajcik,et al.  Nature, Sources, and Development of Pedagogical Content Knowledge for Science Teaching , 1999 .

[8]  Fred A. J. Korthagen,et al.  Two modes of reflection , 1993 .

[9]  Julie Gess-Newsome.  Pedagogical Content Knowledge: An Introduction and Orientation , 1999 .

[10]  Elizabeth A. Davis,et al.  Knowledge Integration in Science Teaching: Analysing Teachers' Knowledge Development , 2004 .

[11]  S. Gudmundsdóttir.  Values in Pedagogical Content Knowledge , 1990 .

[12]  P. Mulhall,et al.  In search of pedagogical content knowledge in science: Developing ways of articulating and documenting professional practice , 2004 .

[13]  Exploring Preservice Teacher Thinking: A Comparison of Five Measures. , 2002 .

[14]  Dana L. Zeidler,et al.  Dancing with Maggots and Saints: Visions for Subject Matter Knowledge, Pedagogical Knowledge, and Pedagogical Content Knowledge in Science Teacher Education Reform , 2002 .

[15]  P. Grossman.  The Making of a Teacher: Teacher Knowledge and Teacher Education , 1990 .

[16]  Descriptors Change Strategies.  paper presented at the Annual Meeting of the American Association of Colleges for Teacher Education , 1977 .

[17]  Ken. Appleton,et al.  Science pedagogical content knowledge and elementary school teachers , 2006 .

[18]  D. Schoen.  Educating the reflective practitioner , 1987 .

[19]  Journaling During a School-Based Secondary Methods Course: Exploring a Route to Teaching Reflection , 2003 .

[20]  J. J. Loughran,et al.  Effective Reflective Practice , 2002 .

[21]  H. Munby,et al.  Epistemology and Context in Research on Learning to Teach Science , 1998 .

[22]  Todd Kent,et al.  The Complex Nature and Sources of Teachers’ Pedagogical Knowledge , 1999 .

[23]  Pamela Joy Mulhall,et al.  Understanding and Developing Science Teachers' Pedagogical Content Knowledge , 2006 .

[24]  R. J. Bogumil,et al.  The reflective practitioner: How professionals think in action , 1985, Proceedings of the IEEE.

[25]  Solving Physics Problems: The Conceptions and Practice of an Experienced Teacher and an Inexperienced Teacher , 2004 .

[26]  R. Marks.  Pedagogical Content Knowledge: From a Mathematical Case to a Modified Conception , 1990 .

[27]  Dilemmas in Developing Reflective Teaching , 1993 .

[28]  David Tripp.  Critical theory and educational research , 1992 .

[29]  Wynne Harlen,et al.  Primary teachers’ understanding of concepts of science: impact on confidence and teaching , 1997 .

[30]  Pamela Joy Mulhall,et al.  Documenting Science Teachers' Pedagogical Content Knowledge Through PaP-eRs , 2001 .

[31]  Wynne Harlen,et al.  Primary teachers' understanding in science and its impact in the classroom , 1997 .

[32]  Jeffrey John Loughran,et al.  Developing a Pedagogy of Teacher Education: Understanding Teaching & Learning about Teaching , 2005 .

[33]  Laura M. Stough.  Using Stimulated Recall in Classroom Observation and Professional Development. , 2001 .

[34]  J. Calderhead,et al.  Reflective teaching and teacher education , 1989 .

[35]  Onno De Jong,et al.  Preservice teachers' pedagogical content knowledge of using particle models in teaching chemistry , 2005 .

[36]  I. Her.  Thick description: toward an interpretive theory of culture, in: The interpretation of cultures: selected essays . New-York/N.Y./USA etc , 2022 .

[37]  L. Shulman.  Knowledge and Teaching: Foundations of the New Reform , 1987 .

[38]  Norman G. Lederman,et al.  The nature and development of preservice science teachers' conceptions of subject matter and pedagogy , 1994 .

[39]  Vicente Mellado,et al.  The classroom practice of preservice teachers and their conceptions of teaching and learning science , 1998 .

[40]  M. Manen.  On the Epistemology of Reflective Practice , 1995 .

[41]  J. H. Driel,et al.  Developing science teachers' pedagogical content knowledge , 1998 .

[42]  J. Calderhead.  STIMULATED RECALL: A METHOD FOR RESEARCH ON TEACHING , 1981 .

[43]  Norman G. Lederman,et al.  Examining Pedagogical Content Knowledge: The Construct and its Implications for Science Education , 2001 .

[44]  L. Shulman.  Those Who Understand: Knowledge Growth in Teaching , 1986 .