Enacted Pedagogical Content Knowledge in Physical Education: a Case Study of a Prospective Classroom Teacher

Abstract

Recently, attention has been focused on the development and the nature of pedagogical content knowledge in the general and physical education literature. The purpose of this study was to describe the enacted pedagogical content knowledge of an elementary classroom teacher during student teaching.Data collection included observations, documents, journals and interviews. Constant comparison and analytic induction were used to organize and categorize the data. Findings indicated that Anna designed instructional tasks with an emphasis on students’ learning. An important issue in teaching for Anna was the transformation of content. During the process of content delivery Anna used examples, demonstrations and openended questions to enhance students’ learning and understanding. In helping students work cooperatively Anna designed partner and group task activities during the teaching and learning process. Anna’s case illustrates the value of understanding pre-service classroom teachers’ ways of coming to learn what, why and how to teach PE.