Constructing CoRes—a Strategy for Building PCK in Pre-service Science Teacher Education (original) (raw)
Related papers
Research in Science & Technological Education, 2012
Background: This research addressed the key area of early career teacher education and aimed to explore the use of a 'content representation' (CoRe) as a mediational tool to develop early career secondary teacher pedagogical content knowledge (PCK). This study was situated in the subject areas of science and technology, where sound teacher knowledge is particularly important to student engagement. Purpose: The study was designed to examine whether such a tool (a CoRe), codesigned by an early career secondary teacher with expert content and pedagogy specialists, can enhance the PCK of early career teachers. The research questions were: How can experts in content and pedagogy work together with early career teachers to develop one science topic CoRe and one technology topic CoRe to support the development of PCK for early career secondary teachers? How does the use of a collaboratively designed CoRe affect the planning of an early career secondary teacher in science or technology? How has engagement in the development and use of an expert-informed CoRe developed an early career teacher's PCK? Sample: The research design incorporated a unique partnership between two expert classroom teachers, two content experts, four early career teachers, and four researchers experienced in science and technology education. Design: This study employed an interpretivist-based methodology and an action research approach within a four-case study design. Data were gathered using qualitative research methods focused on semi-structured interviews, observations and document analysis. Results: The study indicated that CoRes, developed through this collaborative process, helped the early career teachers focus on the big picture of the topic, emphasize particularly relevant areas of content and consider alternative ways of planning for their teaching. Conclusions: This paper presents an analysis of the process of CoRe development by the teacher-expert partnerships and the effect that had on the early career teachers' PCK. In addition, as the same tools and methodology were applied to both a science and a technology teaching context, differences between the two learning areas are discussed.
Exploring the Development of Pre-Service Science Elementary Teachers’ Pedagogical Content Knowledge
Journal of Science Teacher Education, 2012
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.
Making Pedagogical Content Knowledge Explicit: A Tool for Science Teachers´Professional Development
Pedagogical Content Knowledge (PCK) is a widely used concept in science education research to examine the professional, often implicit teaching knowledge of science teachers. But there are very few attempts to work with PCK as an explicit conception in teacher education. Therefore we have derived a PCK tool for reflection in professional development courses from a PCK research model. Feedback by the teachers has encouraged us to further develop this PCK tool and also offer it for the planning of teaching. Through the application of the PCK tool in different professional development settings for pre-and in-service teachers and its on-going evaluation under the paradigm of action research, the tool has advanced and made different options of its usage visible. In this paper we describe the theoretical background of the PCK tool and its action research guided development.
Research in Science Education, 2012
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.
Secondary school science teachers’ Pedagogical Content Knowledge (PCK) in their classroom practice
2021
Research on teacher expertise has identified pedagogical content knowledge (PCK) as the most important factor impacting student progress (Neumann, Kind & Harms, 2019; Park & Chen, 2012) and supported its recognition in teacher practice (Kind & Chan, 2019). Since the recognition of PCK as something that teachers possess, there has been theorizing and research into its nature, its components, and the relationship among these components. To address such issues, two international summits were organized in 2012 and 2016. The key outputs of these summits were theoretical consensus models of PCK (Carlson & Daehler, 2019; Gess-Newsome, 2015). This study builds on novel emerging ideas in the first PCK consensus model (Gess-Newsome, 2015). These consensus models stressed the need for examination of PCK in classroom practices. Researchers have argued for research to understand teachers’ PCK in their practice, with the ultimate goal of the enhancement of students’ learning (Abell, 2007; Barends...
International Journal of Science Education, 2018
This Special Issue aims to present evidence about the relationships between content knowledge (CK), pedagogical knowledge (PK) and pedagogical content knowledge (PCK); the development of these types of knowledge in novice and experienced secondary science teachers; and how CK, PK and/or PCK impact students' learning. Since Shulman's introduction of PCK as the feature that distinguishes the teacher from the content expert, researchers have attempted to understand, delineate, assess and/or develop the construct in pre-and in-service teachers. Accordingly, empirical findings are presented that permit further discussion. Outcomes permit post-hoc examination of a recent, collectively described, 'consensus' model of PCK, identifying strengths and potential issues. As we will illustrate, the relationship between CK, PK and PCK is central to this; that is, probing the hypothesis of pedagogical content knowledge as an 'amalgam' of content and pedagogical knowledge.