Critical Incidents in the Development of Pedagogical Content Knowledge for Teaching the Nature of Science: A Prospective Elementary Teacher’s Journey

While teacher educators have had some success in helping prospective teachers understand the nature of science (NOS), they have been less effective in helping prospective teachers teach NOS. Though several studies have alluded to impacts of various interventions on developing pedagogical content knowledge (PCK) for NOS, the nature, source, and development of PCK for NOS has not yet been investigated in any systematic way. This study addresses that gap by identifying critical incidents in the development of PCK for NOS of a prospective elementary teacher as she transitions from her methods course to student teaching. Analysis of data collected over a 2-year period illuminates pedagogical dilemmas faced by the prospective teacher in enacting NOS instruction within a school culture of primarily “traditional” science teaching. Through construction of critical incident vignettes, narrative inquiry is employed to illustrate the changes in her PCK for NOS over time, and the experiences that facilitated these changes. Implications for supporting the development of PCK for NOS within teacher education are discussed.     

Enabling Factors of Preservice Science Teachers’ Pedagogical Content Knowledge for Nature of Science and Nature of Scientific Inquiry

Science & Education - The goal of this study was to explore the influencing factors of pre-service science teachers’ pedagogical content knowledge (PCK) for targeted aspects of nature of...     

Developing Preservice Teachers’ Understanding of and Pedagogical Content Knowledge for History of Science–Integrated Science Instruction

Science & Education - Despite its positive impact on students’ understanding of the nature of science and science content knowledge, few secondary science teachers incorporate the history...     

Exploring Biology Teachers’ Pedagogical Content Knowledge in the Teaching of Genetics in Swaziland Science Classrooms

This study explored the pedagogical content knowledge (PCK) and its development of four experienced biology teachers in the context of teaching school genetics. PCK was defined in terms of teacher content knowledge, pedagogical knowledge and knowledge of students’ preconceptions and learning difficulties. Data sources of teacher knowledge base included teacher-constructed concept maps, pre- and post-lesson teacher interviews, video-recorded genetics lessons, post-lesson teacher questionnaire and document analysis of teacher's reflective journals and students’ work samples. The results showed that the teachers’ individual PCK profiles consisted predominantly of declarative and procedural content knowledge in teaching basic genetics concepts. Conditional knowledge, which is a type of meta-knowledge for blending together declarative and procedural knowledge, was also demonstrated by some teachers. Furthermore, the teachers used topic-specific instructional strategies such as context-based teaching, illustrations, peer teaching, and analogies in diverse forms but failed to use physical models and individual or group student experimental activities to assist students’ internalization of the concepts. The finding that all four teachers lacked knowledge of students’ genetics-related preconceptions was equally significant. Formal university education, school context, journal reflection and professional development programmes were considered as contributing to the teachers’ continuing PCK development. Implications of the findings for biology teacher education are briefly discussed.     

Students’ Perceptions of Their Science Teachers’ Pedagogical Content Knowledge

Pedagogical content knowledge (PCK) is a type of teacher knowledge to be developed by a teacher. PCK is said to contribute to effective teaching. Most studies investigated the development of PCK and its influence on students’ learning from the teachers’ perspectives. Only a limited number of studies have investigated the components of science teachers’ PCK that helped students’ learning from the perspective of students. Thus, it is the aim of this study to investigate the level of science teachers’ PCK from students’ perspective, in particular whether or not students of different achieving ability had different views of teachers’ PCK in assisting their learning and understanding. Based on the PCK research literature, six components of PCK have been identified, which were as follows: (1) subject matter knowledge, (2) knowledge of teaching strategies, (3) knowledge of concept representation, (4) knowledge of teaching context, (5) knowledge of students, and (6) knowledge of assessment in learning science. A questionnaire consisting of 56 items on a five-point Likert-type scale were used for data collection from 316 Form Four students (16 years old). One-way analysis of variance revealed that the differences in science teachers’ PCK identified by students of different achieving abilities were statistically significant. Overall, students of various academic achieving abilities considered all the components of PCK as important. The low-achieving students viewed all the components of PCK as being less important compared to the high and moderate achievers. In particular, low-achieving students do not view ‘knowledge of concept representation’ as important for effective teaching. They valued the fact that teachers should be alert to their needs, such as being sensitive to students’ reactions and preparing additional learning materials. This study has revealed that PCK of science teachers should be different for high and low-achieving students and knowledge of students’ understanding plays a critical role in shaping teachers PCK.     

Science Teachers’ Views on CoRes and PaP-eRs as a Framework for Articulating and Developing Pedagogical Content Knowledge

This paper reports on a study which was designed to examine how CoRes (Content Representations) and PaP-eRs (Pedagogical and Professional-experience Repertoires) might impact the practice of science teachers by considering how they might value (or not) pedagogical content knowledge (PCK) as part of their professional knowledge. The paper is based on a 2?year longitudinal study that used CoRes and PaP-eRs as a form of intervention with a group of teachers (n?=?6) to determine how they interpreted, used and developed their understanding of PCK over time. The study concluded that the participating teachers developed rich understandings of their professional knowledge of science teaching and were of the view that CoRes and PaP-eRs were significant in shaping that development. As a consequence, the study also validates the use of CoRes and PaP-eRs as a meaningful methodology for examining science teachers?? PCK.     

A Longitudinal Study of Children’s Developing Knowledge and Reasoning in Science

The growth in science understanding and reasoning of 12 children is being traced through their primary school years. The paper reports findings concerning children’s growing understandings of evaporation, and their changing responses to exploration activities, that show the complexity and coherence of learning pathways. Children’s responses to identical explorations of flight, separated by two years, are used to explore the interactions between conceptual knowledge and scientific reasoning, and the manner in which they change over this time. The paper discusses the particular insights afforded by a longitudinal study design, and some attendant methodological issues.     

Exploring the Use of Lesson Study to Develop Elementary Preservice Teachers’ Pedagogical Content Knowledge for Teaching Nature of Science

This study explored a modified version of Japanese Lesson Study to determine whether and how it influenced preservice elementary teachers in their abilities to deliver science lessons that included nature of science (NOS) to their own students. We used a case study approach that focused on one subset of a cohort of preservice elementary teachers within their field placement settings. Data sources included lesson plans, lesson feedback forms, videotapes of delivered lessons, and videotapes of lesson study feedback sessions. Early in the semester peers provided feedback on content, and later in the semester peers provided feedback on classroom management as well as content during the lesson study feedback sessions. We found that preservice elementary teachers were able to provide feedback to their peers regarding how to include NOS in their science lessons, yet did not naturally included NOS connections within their own lessons.     

Understanding a High School Physics Teacher’s Pedagogical Content Knowledge of Argumentation

Scientific argumentation is an important learning objective in science education. It is also an effective instructional approach to constructivist science learning. The implementation of argumentation in school settings requires science teachers, who are pivotal agents of transforming classroom practices, to develop sophisticated knowledge of argumentation. However, there is a lack of understanding about science teachers’ knowledge of argumentation, especially the dialogic meaning of argumentation. In this case study, we closely examine a high school physics teacher’s argumentation-related pedagogic content knowledge (PCK) in the context of dialogic argumentation. We synthesize the teacher’s performed PCK from his argumentation practices and narrated PCK from his reflection on the argumentation practices, from which we summarize his PCK of argumentation from the perspectives of orientation, instructional strategies, students, curriculum, and assessment. Finally, we describe the teacher’s perception and adaption of argumentation in his class. We also identity the barriers to argumentation implementation in this particular case and suggest solutions to overcome these barriers.     

Exploring the Development of Pre-Service Science Elementary Teachers’ Pedagogical Content Knowledge

This paper explores how a group of pre-service elementary science student teachers came to understand the development of their Pedagogical Content Knowledge (PCK) over the course of a semester??s study in a science methods course. At the start of the semester, PCK was introduced to them as an academic construct and as a conceptual tool that they could use to plan for, and assess, the development of their professional knowledge and practice as beginning science teachers. All participants were provided with a tool known as a CoRe (Content Representation) and the manner in which they worked with the CoRe was such that it supported them in planning for and assessing their own learning about teaching elementary science through a focus on the development of their PCK. Through analysis of data derived from the application of a CoRe based methodology (modified and adapted for this study) to the teaching of the science topic of Air, participants?? reasons for, confidence in, and perceived meaningfulness of their learning about science teaching could be examined. In so doing, the nature of participants?? PCK development over time was made explicit. The results illustrate real possibilities for ways of enhancing student teachers?? ongoing professional learning in teacher preparation and offer a window into how the nature of PCK in pre-service education might be better understood and developed.     

Developing a Community of Practice to Support Preservice Elementary Teachers’ Nature of Science Instruction

This study explored ‘To what extent will preservice teachers with adequate nature of science (NOS) conceptions and who participate in a community supporting NOS instruction teach NOS in their internship settings?’ Using a combination of focus group discussions and peer feedback, five preservice teachers met with university personnel bi-monthly during their internships to share NOS teaching and assessment ideas and ask questions. Field notes and voice recordings were used to track conversations at focus group settings and videotapes were made of science instruction in each internship setting. None of the preservice teachers had cooperating teachers who taught NOS, yet results showed that all five preservice teachers were able to explicitly teach NOS in their science lessons, albeit in different ways and to different degrees.     

Expansion of Biology Teachers’ Pedagogical Content Knowledge (PCK) During a Long-Term Professional Development Program

Experienced teachers possess a unique teaching knowledge comprised of an inter-related set of knowledge and beliefs that gives direction and justification to a teacher’s actions. This study examined the expansion of two components of pedagogical content knowledge (PCK) of three in-service teachers in the course of a professional development program aimed at designing new teaching and learning materials suggested by the teachers themselves. The research presents an enlargement of previous PCK representations by focusing on a detailed representation of two main PCK domains: teaching and learning, including ten PCK components that emerged in the course of data analysis. This representation enabled revealing the unique PCK held by each teacher and to characterize the expansion of the two components of the participating teachers’ PCK during the long-term professional development program. Retention of major parts of the expanded PCK a year after termination of the program implies that designing and implementing new teaching and learning materials based on the teachers’ experiences, needs, and knowledge in a workshop format accompanied by biology and science education courses might provide a powerful means for PCK expansion. We recommend that designers of professional development programs be aware of the unique PCK held by each teacher in order to promote meaningful professional development of each teacher. Moreover, the PCK representations that were identified in the course of this study enabled clarifying the “orientation toward teaching science” category of PCK which appears to be unclear in current literature.     

Identifying Science Teachers’ Perceptions of Technological Pedagogical and Content Knowledge (TPACK)

The application of information and communication technology in instruction is highly emphasized in the contemporary education of science teachers. This paper hence aims to explore science teachers’ perceptions of technological pedagogical content knowledge (TPACK) addressing teachers’ perceptions of the affordances of technology application in instruction. A total of 222 pre- and in-service science teachers in Singapore were surveyed. Structural equation models analysis was utilized to examine the model of TPACK involving the seven factors of technological knowledge (TK), pedagogical knowledge (PK), content knowledge (CK), technological content knowledge (TCK), technological pedagogical knowledge (TPK), pedagogical content knowledge (PCK), as well as synthesized knowledge of technology, pedagogy, and content (TPC). The results confirm the seven-factor model and indicate that the science teachers’ perceived TPC significantly and positively correlated with all the other TPACK factors. This paper further reveals the relationships between the science teachers’ perceptions of TPACK and their demographic characteristics such as teaching experience, gender, and age. The findings indicate that female science teachers perceive higher self-confidence in pedagogical knowledge but lower self-confidence in technological knowledge than males. Further, female in-service science teachers’ perceptions of TK, TPK, TCK, and TPC significantly and negatively correlate with their age.     

Prospective Elementary Teachers’ Analysis of Children’s Science Talk in an Undergraduate Physics Course

We investigated how prospective teachers used physics content knowledge when analyzing the talk of elementary children during special activities in an undergraduate physics content course designed for prospective teachers. We found that prospective teachers used content knowledge to reflect on their own learning and to identify students’ science ideas and restate these ideas in scientific terms. Based on this research, we inferred that analyzing children’s ideas through videos provides a meaningful context for applying conceptual physics knowledge in physics courses. Activities that are embedded within a disciplinary curriculum, such as those studied here, may help prospective teachers learn to use disciplinary knowledge in exactly the type of activity in which their content knowledge will be most useful: listening to and interpreting children’s science ideas.     

Assessing Teachers’ Science Content Knowledge: A Strategy for Assessing Depth of Understanding

One of the characteristics of effective science teachers is a deep understanding of science concepts. The ability to identify, explain and apply concepts is critical in designing, delivering and assessing instruction. Because some teachers have not completed extensive courses in some areas of science, especially in middle and elementary grades, many professional development programs attempt to strengthen teachers’ content knowledge. Assessing this content knowledge is challenging. Concept inventories are reliable and efficient, but do not reveal depth of knowledge. Interviews and observations are time-consuming. The Problem Based Learning Project for Teachers implemented a strategy that includes pre-post instruments in eight content strands that permits blind coding of responses and comparison across teachers and groups of teachers. The instruments include two types of open-ended questions that assess both general knowledge and the ability to apply Big Ideas related to specific science topics. The coding scheme is useful in revealing patterns in prior knowledge and learning, and identifying ideas that are challenging or not addressed by learning activities. The strengths and limitations of the scoring scheme are identified through comparison of the findings to case studies of four participating teachers from middle and elementary schools. The cases include examples of coded pre- and post-test responses to illustrate some of the themes seen in teacher learning. The findings raise questions for future investigation that can be conducted using analyses of the coded responses.     

Making PCK Explicit—Capturing Science Teachers’ Pedagogical Content Knowledge (PCK) in the Science Classroom

One way for teachers to develop their professional knowledge, which also focuses on specific science content and the ways students learn, is through being involved in researching their own practice. The aim of this study was to examine how science teachers changed (or not) their professional knowledge of teaching after inquiring into their own teaching in learning studies. The data used in this article consisted of interviews and video-recorded lessons from the six teachers before the project (PCK pre-test) and after the project (PCK post-test), allowing an analysis of if and if then how the teachers changed their teaching practice. Hence, this study responds to the urgent call to focus direct attention on the practice of science teaching. When looking at the individual teachers, it was possible to discern similarities in the ways they have changed their teaching in lesson 2 compared to lesson 1, changes that can be described as: changes in how the object of learning was defined and focused, changes in how the examples that were presented to the students were chosen and changes in how the lessons were structured which in turn influenced the meaning of the concepts that were dealt with. As such, issues for enhancing teachers’ professional learning were unpacked in ways that began to demonstrate, and offer insights into, the extent of their PCK development over time.     

Foundations of Science Literacy: Efficacy of a Preschool Professional Development Program in Science on Classroom Instruction,Teachers’ Pedagogical Content Knowledge,and Children’s Observations and Predictions

Young children are able to benefit from early science teaching but many preschool teachers have not had opportunities to deepen their own understanding of science or to develop their pedagogical content knowledge (PCK) in relation to specific science topics and concepts. This study presents the results of efficacy research on Foundations of Science Literacy (FSL), a comprehensive professional development program designed to support teachers’ knowledge of early childhood science; their PCK around 2 physical science topics (water, and balls and ramps); and their abilities to plan, facilitate, and assess young children’s learning during inquiry-based science explorations. Research Findings: In a randomized trial with 142 preschool teachers and 1,004 4-year-old children, FSL teachers demonstrated significantly higher quality science teaching in general and greater PCK in the 2 physical science topics than did teachers in comparison classrooms. Furthermore, children in FSL classrooms performed significantly better than children in comparison classrooms on tasks involving floating and sinking, and an instrumental variable analysis suggests that the quality of classroom science instruction mediated the relationship between teacher participation in FSL and student outcomes. Practice or Policy: Findings support the use of comprehensive early science professional development programs designed to bolster teacher knowledge and PCK.     

Using Multiple Lenses to Examine the Development of Beginning Biology Teachers’ Pedagogical Content Knowledge for Teaching Natural Selection Simulations

Pedagogical content knowledge (PCK) has become a useful construct to examine science teacher learning. Yet, researchers conceptualize PCK development in different ways. The purpose of this longitudinal study was to use three analytic lenses to understand the development of three beginning biology teachers’ PCK for teaching natural selection simulations. We observed three early-career biology teachers as they taught natural selection in their respective school contexts over two consecutive years. Data consisted of six interviews with each participant. Using the PCK model developed by Magnusson et al. (1999), we examined topic-specific PCK development utilizing three different lenses: (1) expansion of knowledge within an individual knowledge base, (2) integration of knowledge across knowledge bases, and (3) knowledge that explicitly addressed core concepts of natural selection. We found commonalities across the participants, yet each lens was also useful to understand the influence of different factors (e.g., orientation, subject matter preparation, and the idiosyncratic nature of teacher knowledge) on PCK development. This multi-angle approach provides implications for considering the quality of beginning science teachers’ knowledge and future research on PCK development. We conclude with an argument that explicitly communicating lenses used to understand PCK development will help the research community compare analytic approaches and better understand the nature of science teacher learning.