Examining Early Elementary Teachers’ Pedagogical Content Knowledge for Teaching Scientific Explanations

Abstract

ABSTRACTYoung children need opportunities to engage in the practice of constructing scientific explanations in order to develop their own understanding of science content. To engage in this scientific practice, teachers need to provide young children with explicit instruction and scaffolding. However, many classroom teachers’ knowledge and beliefs for how to teach science currently do not encompass the scientific practice of constructing explanations. This results in teachers not including this scientific practice within their science curriculum or skipping over it if it is included. As a result, many teachers will need training before they begin to include scientific explanations within their existing science curriculum and practice. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to explore how 2 early elementary teachers’ pedagogical content knowledge (PCK) for teaching about scientific explanations developed as a result of participating in a professional development program that focused on this core scientific practice. Using a case study design we sought to understand the ways in which the 2 teachers’ PCK for teaching scientific explanations developed across 3 checkpoints: prior to the summer professional development in Year 2, during the 2nd summer program, and during/after teaching a unit on matter that included scientific explanations. Results indicated that certain aspects of both teachers’ PCK for teaching scientific explanations developed but at different points in time throughout the study. Implications for a multiyear professional development design for developing teachers’ PCK for teaching scientific explanations are discussed.