Prospective Teachers’ Pedagogical Content Knowledge Development in an Elementary Science Methods Course

Abstract

ABSTRACT This study investigated the nature of the pedagogical content knowledge (PCK) development among 22 prospective teachers enrolled in an elementary science methods course. The nature of prospective teachers’ PCK development was investigated in relation to their experiences in planning, enacting, and reflecting upon a Physical science lesson. The study was framed by the literature on the nature of PCK and PCK development. Narratives, together with other data sets, were used to embed the prospective teachers’ experiences throughout the 15-week methods course. Data analysis indicated that prospective teachers’ orientation to teaching was focused on keeping students’ engaged with teacher-centered or student-centered activities and was a needed requirement for learning science content. This orientation to teaching also served as the predominant knowledge component that scripted, filtered, amplified and mediated the other PCK components, and thereby dictated the prospective teachers’ PCK development traced across time. This orientation was also used as a frame of reference to plan, enact, and reflect upon science lessons. Implications include the need for teacher educators to provide authentic platforms for prospective teachers to trace and track their PCK development. Authentic platforms include the use of studenting and teaching narratives together with other praxis tools, and the use of domain/discipline-specific PCK as a frame of reference to provide the essential explanatory factor for understanding PCK development from the dynamic processes of planning, enacting, and reflecting upon science lessons respectively.