Effects of instruction on pedagogical content knowledge about fractions in sixth-grade mathematics on content knowledge and pedagogical knowledge

ABSTRACTTeachers’ professional knowledge is considered one of the most important predictors of instructional quality. According to Shulman, such professional knowledge includes content, pedagogical content and pedagogical knowledge. Although recent research shed some light on the structure of the dimensions of professional knowledge, little is known how teacher education impacts pre-service physics teachers’ professional knowledge. In an effort to address this issue, we examined the content, pedagogical content and pedagogical knowledge of N = 200 pre-service physics teachers enrolled in different years of teacher education at 12 major teacher education universities in Germany. We used structural equation modelling (1) to examine the relations amongst pre-service physics teachers’ content, pedagogical content and pedagogical knowledge, (2) to explore how the three kinds of knowledge and their relations differ across different stages of teacher education and (3) to identify factors affecting the level of each component of professional knowledge. Our findings suggest that content, pedagogical content and pedagogical knowledge represent distinct types of knowledge. Furthermore, our findings show that in the first years of professional education, pedagogical content knowledge is more closely related with general pedagogical knowledge while in later years, it is more closely related with content knowledge, suggesting that it develops from a general knowledge about teaching and learning into knowledge about the teaching and learning of specific content. Finally, beyond school achievement and years of enrolment as predictors, we find in particular the amount of classroom observations to have a positive impact on the professional knowledge of pre-service physics teachers.

The research investigates and compares pedagogical content knowledge of pre-service and in-service elementary school teachers in mathematics. The study used a quantitative method design, and the participants were 96 pre-service teachers and 80 in-service elementary school teachers. The data collected by questionnaires using 5-point Likers scala consists of content knowledge, pedagogical knowledge, and pedagogical content knowledge. The data is analyzed using a one-way ANOVA and MANOVA. The results showed that pre-service and in-service teachers showed higher levels of pedagogical content knowledge. Teachers in services scored higher in pedagogical content knowledge than pre-service teachers significantly. In-service teachers have higher scores in each of the components. Pre-service teachers have higher scores in pedagogical knowledge and pedagogical content knowledge except for content knowledge. Teacher educators need to pay attention to increased pre-service content knowledge and activating pre￾service teachers in elementary school as co-teacher. In-service teachers can improve their skills through educational seminars and webinars online that do not interfere with teaching time.

Pedagogical content knowledge forms the core of teachers’ professional knowledge; it refers to knowledge about making subject matter accessible to students. Thus, the formation of pedagogical content knowledge constitutes a crucial issue for educational research and practice. We investigated the contributions of content knowledge and pedagogical knowledge to the formation of pedagogical content knowledge about fractions and fractional arithmetic in 6th grade mathematics in a between-participants study with 100 German preservice teachers. The three experimental and two control groups received 7 hr of intervention spread out over two days. We assessed participants’ pedagogical content knowledge before intervention, between the two days, after intervention, as well as at 6-week follow-up. The control groups exclusively received instruction on either pedagogical knowledge or pedagogical content knowledge; each of the experimental groups embodied a specific hypothesis about the formation of pedagogical content knowledge. Providing support for a mechanism of amalgamation, a combination of instruction on content knowledge and pedagogical knowledge produced small but statistically significant growth in pedagogical content knowledge. Similarly, instruction on content knowledge exclusively was sufficient to cause small but statistically significant growth in pedagogical content knowledge. Prior instruction on content knowledge did not facilitate learning from instruction on pedagogical content knowledge. Nevertheless, direct instruction on pedagogical content knowledge caused medium and statistically significant growth in pedagogical content knowledge. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2018 APA, all rights reserved)

What learning opportunities in higher education promote the development of content knowledge (CK), pedagogical content knowledge (PCK), and pedagogical knowledge (PK)? In order to investigate this question, a cross-sectional study with a total of 274 German preservice biology teachers (21.5 % male, average age 22.8 years) was conducted in German universities. Preservice teachers were recruited via announcements in teacher education courses. The participation rate amounted to 45 %. Results indicate that CK, PCK, and PK are three unique and separable, but correlated domains of knowledge. Regression analyses show how particular learning opportunities are related to preservice biology teachers’ CK, PCK, and PK. Both (a) the type of teacher education program and (b) the period of university studies are related to CK and PCK. Moreover, (c) additional subjects studied and (d) teaching experience seem relevant for PCK development. Conclusions for teacher education are drawn.

Despite the proliferation of research on teacher education, pre-service teachers’ pedagogical preparedness to teach their minor subjects has received little attention in the literature. Therefore, this study assessed Ghanaian pre-service geography teachers’ pedagogical competence in their minor subjects, including political science, economics, social studies, and history. Pedagogical competence was conceptualised using three constructs adapted from the Technological Pedagogical Content Knowledge (TPACK) framework: pedagogical knowledge, pedagogical content knowledge, and technological pedagogical knowledge. Through a survey, a total of 182 pre-service geography teachers participated in the study. The empirical data obtained were analysed using descriptive statistics such as mean and standard deviation. A one-way MANOVA test was conducted to explore the differences in the pre-service teachers’ pedagogical competencies based on minor subject classifications. The results showed that the pre-service geography teachers had relatively higher pedagogical knowledge in their minor subject than pedagogical content and technological pedagogical knowledge. Minor subject classifications significantly affected pedagogical knowledge, with higher scores reported among the economics minor group. The implications of the findings for teacher education curricula, in addition to the need for pre-service teachers to read pedagogy-related courses in their minor subjects, are discussed.

Pedagogical Content Knowledge is pivotal in music education, bridging content expertise and pedagogical skills to enhance teaching efficacy and student learning outcomes. This study combines basic music theory with PCK, and uses the ADDIE model to design a BMT-PCK training module for pre-service music teachers. This module is designed to improve pre-service music teachers' pedagogical knowledge, content knowledge, instructional strategies, and teaching motivation. The participants were 40 pre-service music teachers preparing for work in Hunan Province, China, assessing changes through pre- and post-intervention tests and surveys. The tests for assessing pedagogical knowledge and content knowledge gains. Surveys, based on validated scales, measure shifts in teaching motivation and effectiveness. Findings indicate significant improvements in participants' pedagogical understanding, content knowledge, and motivational levels. These results demonstrate the effectiveness of the BMT-PCK module in enhancing the competence of pre-service music teachers and provide a scalable model for future pre-service music teacher training programs.

The most important intellectual component of a teaching profession is a distinct body of specialized knowledge. This specialized knowledge is defined as pedagogical content knowledge (PCK), the discipline-specific pedagogical knowledge necessary to teach in a distinct content area. PCK is one of the seven interconnected components of Lee Shulman’s conception of the knowledge base for teaching: content knowledge (CK); general pedagogical knowledge (PK); curriculum knowledge; PCK; knowledge of learners and their characteristics; knowledge of educational contexts; and knowledge of educational ends, purposes, and values. PCK represents the blending of content and pedagogy into an understanding of how particular content is organized, represented, and adapted to the diverse interests and abilities of students and presented for instruction. PCK identifies teachers’ unique expertise and distinguishes content specialists from professional teachers. Since the advent of the concept, PCK has been widely used and received special attention among teacher educators and education researchers. It has been one of the most influential concepts in teacher education and teacher education research because it constitutes the distinctive body of knowledge that every teacher should develop. Researchers, especially in science and mathematics education, have actively investigated the nature and characteristics of PCK and developed PCK models that can lead to effective teaching of science and mathematics. While PCK has not been as widely used in geography education research as in other subject areas, geography educators and education researchers agree that PCK is an essential quality of a geography teacher, so they have examined it. Teacher knowledge has long been an important topic in geography education research and examined from various perspectives including the curriculum-making and the capabilities approaches. This article provides an overview of the literature on PCK for geography teaching, which I define here as GeoPCK. Citations included represent selected empirical research that sheds light on the nature, components, and strategies to develop GeoPCK. The last two sections provide brief overviews of the two closely related concepts to PCK—technological pedagogical and content knowledge (TPCK or TPACK) and pedagogical reasoning and action (PR&A)—reflecting the increasing interest in geography teachers’ knowledge for the use of geospatial technologies (GST); for student-centered, curriculum-based, and inquiry-oriented education; and for the recognition of the significance of understanding how teachers’ knowledge base is enacted, refined, and reconstructed in and through their own practice.

Technological pedagogical and content knowledge (TPACK) is a pedagogical tool that can provide teachers and preservice teachers opportunities to receive enhanced lesson input, engage in classroom interactions, and improve learning outcomes. This study aims at examining the factors related to the TPACK skills of preservice social studies teachers. Participants consisted of 368 preservice teachers studying at the social studies teacher education department of a university located in the Central Black Sea Region of Turkey. Participants completed the TPACK scale and personal information form. The data were analyzed using descriptive statistics, one-way multivariate analysis of variance, and one-way analysis of variance. The results of the study reveal that gender is associated with the preservice teachers’ technological knowledge, content knowledge, and pedagogical knowledge; education year is associated with technological knowledge and technological pedagogical knowledge; high school type is correlated with technological knowledge, technological pedagogical knowledge, technological content knowledge, and technological pedagogical and content knowledge; home computer ownership is associated with technological knowledge; and average weekly time spent using a computer is associated with technological knowledge and technological pedagogical and content knowledge. Finally, technical computer skills are correlated with technological knowledge, content knowledge, pedagogical knowledge, pedagogical content knowledge, technological pedagogical knowledge, and technological pedagogical and content knowledge. The current study may contribute to determining culturally specific and cross-cultural correlates of TPACK skills among preservice teachers.

ABSTRACTTeachers’ professional knowledge is assumed to be a key variable for effective teaching. As teacher education has the goal to enhance professional knowledge of current and future teachers, this knowledge should be described and assessed. Nevertheless, only a limited number of studies quantitatively measures physics teachers’ professional knowledge. The study reported in this paper was part of a bigger project with the broader goal of understanding teacher professional knowledge. We designed a test instrument to assess the professional knowledge of physics teachers (N = 186) in the dimensions of content knowledge (CK), pedagogical content knowledge (PCK), and pedagogical knowledge (PK). A model describing the relationships between these three dimensions of professional knowledge was created to inform the design of the tests used to measure CK, PCK, and PK. In this paper, we describe the model with particular emphasis on the PCK part, and the subsequent PCK test development and its implementation in detail. We report different approaches to evaluate the PCK test, including the description of content validity, the examination of the internal structure of professional knowledge, and the analysis of construct validity by testing teachers across different school subjects, teachers from different school types, pre-service teachers, and physicists. Our findings demonstrate that our PCK test results could distinguish physics teachers from the other groups tested. The PCK test results could not be explained by teachers’ CK or PK, cognitive abilities, computational skills, or science knowledge.

The aim of this study was to develop and verify a questionnaire to evaluate the demand for technological pedagogical content knowledge (TPACK) measurement towards teachers, as there is a demand in the TPACK components domain to amplify their capability in education, such as technological knowledge, pedagogical knowledge, content knowledge, technological pedagogical knowledge, technological content knowledge, and pedagogical content knowledge. This study added two new components such as technological pedagogical content knowledge and contextual knowledge. Questionnaire verification was performed through literature review, and content verification was performed by experts, concluded by a factorial and reliability verification. The instrument was implemented with 400 teachers who teach Malay language subject at Secondary school in Malaysia. The verified questionnaire had eight components, and the dependability of the instrument was quantified using Cronbach’s alpha coefficient, with a scale comprising eight subscales: technological knowledge (.934), pedagogical knowledge (.963), content knowledge (.967), pedagogical content knowledge (.975), technological content knowledge (.966), technological pedagogical knowledge (.979), technological pedagogical content knowledge (.969), and contextual knowledge (.955). Eight components were analysed using confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) to determine the credibility of the structure. The results showed that the eight-factor variable model fits well and met the requirements of goodness of fit indices (>.90) and RMSEA (. The knowledge and teaching skills possessed by teachers will grow in line with their experience in national education arena. Therefore, the validation of instrumentation was to measure and determine the components of TPACK, which are technological knowledge, pedagogical knowledge, content knowledge, technological pedagogical knowledge, technological content knowledge, pedagogical content knowledge, technological pedagogical content knowledge and contextual knowledge for teachers.

Higher education instructors tried to find best teaching ways during the pandemic. Instructors who were faced with emergency situations used various technologies to deliver their courses. In this study, an online survey was used to ask instructors about their experiences regarding their development of technological pedagogical content knowledge (TPACK) during emergency remote teaching (ERT); 231 responses were received from instructors from faculties of education. The survey was a five-point Likert-type scale include the dimensions of pedagogical knowledge, pedagogical knowledge, technological knowledge, technological content knowledge, pedagogical content knowledge, technological pedagogical knowledge, and technological pedagogical content knowledge. Instructors rated their own non-technological knowledge (pedagogical knowledge, content knowledge, and pedagogical content knowledge) relatively higher than their knowledge including technology (technological knowledge, technological pedagogical knowledge, and technological content knowledge). The findings indicate that instructors had a consistently high level of perceived knowledge in all TPACK dimensions. Regarding developments in instructors’ TPACK, several suggestions were made, including novel technologies and pedagogies specialized for ERT.

<p style="text-align:justify">In order to reflect the integration of the teachers’ content knowledge, pedagogical knowledge, and technology usage skills to the class context and to provide the expected outputs for the program's purposes, it is needed to be revealed the different dimensions of Technological Pedagogical Content Knowledge (TPACK). In this study, it was aimed to investigate the teacher training programmes related to pre-service science teachers’ TPACK. This study was designed as a cross-sectional study. In the 2015-2016 academic year, a total of 269 pre-service teachers (73 of them from 1st grade, 73 of them from 2nd grade, 87 of them from 3rd and 36 of them from 4th grade students) attending Science Education Department participated in this study. As a data collection tool, 7 subscales of “Technological Pedagogical Content Knowledge Scale of Pre-Service Teachers”; namely, technology knowledge, pedagogical knowledge, content knowledge, technological pedagogical knowledge, technological content knowledge, pedagogical content knowledge, and technological pedagogical content knowledge were used. According to the results, as the class level of pre-service teacher increases, their level of technological pedagogical content knowledge increases as well. Moreover, there is a significant difference on behalf of pre-service teachers at the 1st grade in all dimensions of technological pedagogical content knowledge scale.</p>

Global trends show that men dominate physics-related jobs. However, there is a unique phenomenon, especially in Indonesia in the physics teacher education program where there are more female students than male students. This study aims to determine the TPACK of female pre-service physics teachers consisting of 15 pre-service teachers taking microteaching courses and making their online learning videos. The videos were used as a data collection tool. A microteaching observation sheet was used to analyze data obtained from observations with two raters. The observation sheet consisted of 6 aspects which were content knowledge (CK), pedagogical knowledge (PK), technological knowledge (TK), pedagogical content knowledge (PCK), technological content knowledge (TCK), and technological pedagogical knowledge (TPK) with four indicators for each aspect and the maximum score per aspect is four. The overall TPACK score was obtained by calculating the average of all aspects. Although the overall result of female pre-service physics teachers is 2.1 which is sufficient, technological-related aspects need more concern. The results showed that female pre-service physics teachers lack technological pedagogical knowledge (TPK). On the contrary, they have high pedagogical knowledge (PK). Teacher education programs should provide opportunities for female pre-service teachers to develop their TPACK. Online microteaching can be the key to helping female pre-service physics teachers to integrate technology into their learning. Keywords: microteaching, technological pedagogical and content knowledge (TPACK)

Efforts to improve preservice teacher education have recently focused on developing teachers’ adequate pedagogical knowledge (PK), content knowledge (CK), and pedagogical content knowledge (PCK), which are critical elements of teacher’s professional knowledge, and important indicators of preparedness to teach. However, the development of the three knowledge domains of Chinese preservice English as a foreign language (EFL) teachers is surprisingly under-researched. To fill this gap, this study examined the development of the three knowledge domains of a group of Chinese preservice EFL teachers at different stages of a teacher education program. Specifically, it explored the relationship among the three knowledge domains, and the effects of learning opportunities on their development. Findings revealed that preservice EFL teachers at a later stage outperformed those at an earlier stage with regard to PK and PCK. Our findings also suggested that there were positive correlations among PK, CK, and PCK at different stages of the teacher education program. Furthermore, the findings showed that courses on CK, PK, and PCK, and teaching experience significantly influenced preservice EFL teachers’ professional knowledge. However, the role of classroom observation was not significant. Implications for EFL teacher education and future research were also discussed.

This paper reports the development and validation process of a self-assessment survey that examines technological pedagogical content knowledge (TPACK) among preservice teachers learning to teach English as a foreign language (EFL). The survey, called TPACK-EFL, aims to provide an assessment tool for preservice foreign language teachers that addresses subject-specific pedagogies and technologies. Using mixed methods approach, survey items were generated first using qualitative methods (e.g. expert interviews and document analysis). The content validity of the items was established through expert and preservice teacher reviews. The survey was then validated through two rounds of exploratory factor analysis (EFA), the first with 174 preservice EFL teachers and the second with 204 preservice EFL teachers. The results of the first round indicated a five-factor structure: technological knowledge (TK), content knowledge (CK), pedagogical knowledge (PK), pedagogical content knowledge (PCK) and a fifth factor that combined TCK, TPK, and TPACK items. After revising the survey, the second round of EFA results showed a seven-factor structure that was consistent with the TPACK framework. The final TPACK-EFL survey included a total of 39 items: 9 TK, 5 CK, 6 PK, 5 PCK, 3 TCK, 7 TPK, and 4 TPACK. The results offer survey developers and teacher educators insight into establishing clear boundaries between the TPACK constructs. In particular, subject-specific strategies were used to generate clear and distinct items within the TCK and TPK constructs. Implications for developing other subject-specific TPACK surveys and using the TPACK-EFL survey in other countries are discussed.