Developing and Assessing Professional Knowledge as a Science Teacher Educator: Learning About Teaching from Student Teachers

Abstract

This chapter offers insights into what a science teacher educator learnt from analysing her student teachers’ development of pedagogical content knowledge (PCK) during a semester of study in a primary science teacher education program in Sweden. The self-study is built on a science education project in which 33 primary science student teachers used CoRe (Content Representation) as a tool to unpack their approach to teaching a science topic and the reasons for that approach. Through a modified approach to using CoRe, the student teachers also self-assessed their learning in order to capture and identify development of their PCK over time. Central to the study is the issue of how the teacher educator, in working with a critical friend, developed increased awareness of the needs and concerns of her student teachers and, furthermore, how this awareness reshaped her understanding of her teacher education practice.