Abstract
One of the main components of teachers' pedagogical content knowledge refers to their use of representation forms. In a similar vein, organizing concepts logically and meaningfully is an essential element of teachers' subject matter knowledge. Since subject matter and pedagogical content knowledge of teachers are tightly connected as categories forming their knowledge base, it is reasonable to expect that representation forms and organization of knowledge are related. In order to find out how far these two facets depend on each other, two Finnish upper secondary physics teachers' answers to an electronic questionnaire were analysed as case studies. Questions varied from teachers' organization of knowledge to their representation forms regarding the topics of magnetic flux density and Ampere's law. A concept map constructed by one teacher, led us to an improved description of teachers' knowledge organization. In addition, observed and analysed lessons given by the second teacher shed light on representation forms. Organization of knowledge of the studied topics was investigated by means of recognizing the core concepts, and then interrelations between the other concepts. So, the study could advise physics teacher to more systematically plan and organize their teaching of the studied topics. Other findings illuminate useful representation forms that physics teachers apply during their teaching such as suiting experiments, explanations, and models. Thus, our conceptualization emphasize for teachers to reflect on effective ways to organize their knowledge and, consequently, to select adequate representation forms.
Highlights
Physics has always been one of the most challenging school subjects for students
Teachers must know how to organize their subject matter knowledge (SMK); considering logical and meaningful organization of content knowledge forms the basis for a careful design of teaching (Bransford et al, 1999; Mäntylä, 2011; Majidi, 2012)
In this study we address these questions: 1. How do high school teachers organize their knowledge of magnetic field density and Ampère’s law? Can upper secondary school teachers’ organization of their SMK regarding magnetic field density and Ampère’s law be captured in a concept map?
Summary
Physics has always been one of the most challenging school subjects for students. it is essential to be aware of the most effective ways to teach physics. Geddis and Wood (1997) stated that PCK assists teachers to translate their SMK into forms that are more accessible for students They argued that ReFs work on the ultimate stage of pedagogical translation of SMK presupposing professional reflection on subject matter representation and the topic’s curricular saliency, consideration of students’ prior knowledge, and deciding on suiting instructional strategies and teaching materials. Loughran et al (2004) employed content representation and a professional and pedagogical experience repertoire to portray teachers’ PCK The former captures teachers’ SMK: key and alternative ideas of a given content, their understanding, ambiguities, beliefs of effective sequencing, and ways to scaffold, i.e. to organize the ideas; the latter two aspects assist teachers to reflect features of their PCK through describing teaching procedures, curriculum issues, and students’ alternative concepts.
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