Knowledge Of Instructional Strategies Research Articles

DEVELOPMENT AND APPLICATION OF AN INSTRUMENT FOR ASSESSING UPPER-SECONDARY SCHOOL BIOLOGY TEACHERS’ PEDAGOGICAL CONTENT KNOWLEDGE OF SCIENTIFIC THINKING

Scientific thinking constitutes a vital component of scientific competencies, crucial for citizens to adapt to the evolving societal landscape. To cultivate students’ scientific thinking, teachers should possess an adequate professional knowledge foundation, which encompasses pedagogical content knowledge (PCK). Assessing teachers’ PCK of scientific thinking facilitates the development of effective curricula tailored to their continuous professional development. Despite its significance, empirical studies on biology teachers’ PCK of scientific thinking are notably lacking. Hence, this research aimed to create a reliable and valid tool to evaluate upper-secondary school biology teachers’ PCK of scientific thinking. The results showed that the instrument exhibits high reliability and good validity, affirming its efficiency for investigative purposes. A collective of 292 in-service biology teachers from upper-secondary schools participated in this investigation through the completion of an online survey. The results indicated that, overall, as well as for each component, upper-secondary school biology teachers’ performance on PCK of scientific thinking fell within the lower to middle range. Specifically, the performance levels of four components: knowledge of students (KSU), knowledge of instructional strategies (KIS), knowledge of curriculum (KC), and knowledge of assessment (KA) declined sequentially. Keywords: assessment instrument, pedagogical content knowledge, scientific thinking, upper-secondary school biology teacher

Pedagogical strategies in the cotaught K–12 inclusive setting: role responsibility for teacher partners and leaders

ABSTRACT Knowledge of instructional strategies in cotaught K–12 classrooms raises awareness of this unique collaboration for benefitting students with disabilities. The purposes of this qualitative study were to (1) identify pedagogical strategies that facilitate coteaching in inclusive environments and (2) explore the relevance of coteaching teams and administrative support for these partnerships. Interviewing during the coronavirus pandemic involved nine experienced general and special educators (coteachers) from elementary, middle, and secondary schools in Virginia, USA. Practices of inclusive education and leaders’ involvement in coteaching were revealed. Coteaching strategies, administrative needs, and tips for future partners were probed in the interviews. Individual partners’ communication, responsibilities, tasks, and expectations were other areas of interest. Investigating how coteaching teams instruct and perceive administrative support contributes to the research. Importantly, the relationship of coteaching to leadership is crucial to the viability and effectiveness of instructional collaboration.

Demonstrating Pedagogical Content Knowledge Through the Development of Educational Science Board Games

Preservice teachers who are specialising in the teaching of the subject natural science at a primary school level, ought to demonstrate the ability to present lessons that provoke a joyful yet meaningful educational experience amongst learners. One such approach that was taken, was when natural science preservice teachers were tasked with developing educational science board games as a means to enrich their teaching practice during a recent school visitation opportunity. However, given this educational exercise, what remains a mystery from a teacher development perspective is whether this exercise provoked some form of ‘pedagogical thinking’ among preservice teachers? It is with this question in mind, that the study investigated whether the task of developing educational science board games sparked the ability of preservice teachers to demonstrate knowledge of pedagogical content. The study draws on a modified understanding of Shulman’s pedagogical content knowledge model, which in the context of gamification requires one to effectively transmit ‘subject knowledge’ in an interactive manner through ‘educational board game practices and engagement’. Using a focus group discussion and photo-voice methodology as data collection techniques, this qualitative study uncovered how preservice teachers demonstrated i) knowledge of the curriculum, ii) knowledge of instructional strategies, iii) knowledge of learner-thinking, and iv) knowledge of assessment. This study holds a series of implications for future research in the field of initial teacher development and STEM education. For example, it will be interesting to uncover how preservice teachers experience the use of educational board games in their teaching. In addition, it will also be interesting to discover how educational board games can be used in other STEM subjects such as mathematics, technology, and physical science. Ultimately, more research is also required on the learning benefits of educational board games from a learner’s perspective.

Design and validation of an instrument to determine the relationship between pedagogical content knowledge and practical work in science instruction

Research in science education has recognized the importance of pedagogical content knowledge (PCK) and its relationship to practical work. Although efforts have been made to characterize this relationship accurately, research in this field still needs to be completed. This article shows an instrument’s design and validation process that aims to determine the perception of PCK elements and their incidence in the design, implementation, and evaluation of practical work in science teachers. The questionnaire was subjected to content validation by a panel of experts and a pilot study to evaluate its internal consistency through Cronbach’s alpha. The construction and validation yielded an instrument of 30 items grouped into five categories: orientations toward science teaching, knowledge of the curriculum, knowledge of assessment, knowledge of students’ understanding of science, and knowledge of instructional strategies. Reliability yielded a Cronbach’s alpha value of 0.881, showing the development of a consistent and reliable instrument.

Investigating ‘A’ Level Biology Teachers’ Content Knowledge on Biodiversity in Midlands Urban: A Case of Four Selected Teachers

<p style="text-align: justify;">This paper reports on part of an ongoing large-scale research on the need to improve science teaching and learning through investigating the Pedagogical Content Knowledge (PCK) of biology teachers for the topic Biodiversity. Six factors have been seen to affect teacher PCK, i.e., content knowledge, knowledge of students, science teaching orientations, knowledge of assessment, knowledge of instructional strategies and knowledge of the curriculum. This research aimed to examine the teacher’s level of content knowledge (CK). A qualitative research paradigm was adopted, and a case study research design used. The case (unit of analysis) was Biology teacher CK, and the subjects were the four teacher participants purposively selected. Lesson observations, teacher interviews and learner questionnaires were used to collect data on teacher CK. A content knowledge analytical framework consisting of five constructs was designed and used to analyse the teacher CK and data triangulated with data collected from interviews and questionnaires. This research revealed that ‘A’ level Biology teachers’ CK vary from teacher to teacher depending on several factors which include teacher identity, planning, workshopping, and motivation among others. Of the four Biology teacher participants, two had adequate CK and the other two exhibited inadequate CK. Inadequate CK was attributed to lack of planning, non-exposure to workshops and lack of teacher motivation. Consequently, this research recommends supervision of teachers from school level to national level, a series of teacher workshops on the demands of the competence-based curriculum and constructive teacher identity as well as introduce factors that enhance teacher motivation. Further research on the content knowledge of Biology teachers in other learning areas is recommended.</p>

Learning to teach chemical bonding: a framework for preservice teacher educators

Chemical bonding is an important topic which is difficult to teach well, especially for novices. This study set out to support preservice teacher educators by developing a framework for understanding and addressing the complexity of teaching chemical bonding. A model of pedagogical content knowledge (PCK) in science education that has been widely endorsed by experts in the field was adopted as the theoretical lens. First, a systematic literature review was performed to articulate what recent empirical studies can tell us about the knowledge teachers require to teach chemical bonding. The review corpus consisted of 59 articles published over the past 20 years relating to four components of PCK: knowledge of how chemical bonding is embedded in curricula, knowledge of student understanding related to this topic, knowledge of instructional strategies and representations for teaching chemical bonding, and knowledge related to the assessment of chemical bonding understanding. This yielded current collective PCK for teaching chemical bonding in chemistry teacher education. Next, nine chemistry teacher educators were asked to portray their own personal knowledge for teaching chemical bonding through content representations. Analysis of the content representations revealed differences between several aspects of the collective PCK derived from the literature and the personal PCK articulated by our sample of Dutch chemistry teacher educators. Finally, findings from the literature and the teacher educator content representations were synthesized into a framework for chemistry teacher educators. Uses of the framework are discussed, and sample applications to the design of classroom activities are offered. Finally, implications of the findings and suggestions for future research are addressed.

Examining the pedagogical content knowledge of in-service mathematics teachers on the permutations and combinations in the context of student mistakes

Permutations and combinations are generally taught by requiring students to memorize formulas and solve problems using the appropriate formula. Students who learn these topics may succeed in gaining high scores on end-of-chapter exams in textbooks, while lacking the conceptual understanding required to deal with problems in the real world. Therefore, this study aimed to examine in-service mathematics teachers' pedagogical content knowledge (PCK) to determine students’ mistakes in solving permutations and combinations problem and their teaching strategies to eliminate these errors. Data were collected by distributing vignettes, CoRe, and PaP-eRs to thirteen mathematics teachers from ten provinces in Indonesia after they finished an online professional teacher education program to determine their PCK in teaching permutations and combinations. The data collected were analyzed qualitatively using a content analysis approach to obtain categories inductively. The result showed that PCK of in-service mathematics in teaching permutations and combinations was observed by identifying student mistakes conceptually and procedurally, even though some could not determine their mistakes in permutations. On the other hand, the knowledge of instructional strategies can engage all students in active learning, but most of them only give general answers. Furthermore, an in-depth understanding of permutations and combinations topic is needed to support the development of teachers’ pedagogic competencies sustainably. The contribution of this research will be of interest to curriculum development and mathematics educators.

Trends in Postgraduate Thesis Studies Addressing Pedagogical Content Knowledge in Mathematics Education in Turkey: A Systematic Review

The aim of this study is to systematically review and assess the subliminal theses in Turkey which were subject to pedagogical know-how from the mathematical studies published in the national thesis center between 2016 and 2021. To examine prostheses according to certain criteria, qualitative research methods were based on a systematic examination method. In order to obtain the data of the study, 25 postgraduate theses about pedagogic content knowledge in math education were included in the analysis based on the PRISMA information flow, at the National Thesis Data Center of the Presidency of the Council of Higher Education. The theses chosen in line with the aim of the study were examined in the framework of the study evaluation form. As a result, it has been found that the knowledge of program, content knowledge, knowledge of understanding student, and knowledge of instructional strategies - subcomponents of pedagogical content knowledge as revealed by theorists who reviewed pedagogic content knowledge - is not scrutinized in detail by the graduate thesis studies.

Teaching Knowledge and Self-Concept: A Case Study Involving a Chemistry Teacher

Background: It is considered that, in order to teach, the teacher must have a base knowledge inherent to teaching and that the self-concept can influence the construction of this knowledge. Objectives: To analyse the correlation between teacher knowledge and self-concept. Design: This investigation began with a study on self-concept and teaching knowledge so it would be possible to build the theoretical framework that would support the collection and analysis of data. Setting and Participants: the participant of this research was a teacher who had been teaching chemistry for over 22 years in southern Brazil. Data collection and analysis: The body of data that constitutes this research permeates the analysis of semi-structured interviews, observations in pre-service teachers’ diaries and teaching materials (such as biweekly plans, appraisals, among others). The analysis categories were the teaching knowledge model called the Hybrid Model and the self-concept categories: affective, cognitive and behavioural. Results: The components of teacher knowledge that most emerged were General Pedagogical Knowledge, Content Knowledge and Knowledge of Instructional Strategies for Science Teaching, while the most emerging self-concept categories were Behavioural and Cognitive. The categories that most occurred were General Pedagogical Knowledge with Behavioural Self-Concept. Thus, it is understood that the way that this teacher interacts with his school space strongly influences the way he constructs his teaching practice. Conclusions: It is inferred that this connections can influence the construction of teaching knowledge of experienced and novice teachers. A better understanding of this process can help in understanding the teaching profession and, consequently, in predicting the efficiency and satisfaction of teaching practice, as well as pointing out possible ways to train chemistry teachers.

Lessons from an Integrative Review of Special Education Research on Pedagogical Content Knowledge in South Korea

ABSTRACT The primary purpose of this study was to synthesise the current research related to special education teachers’ pedagogical content knowledge (PCK). Inclusion and exclusion criteria yielded a total of 13 studies, six of those using a qualitative approach and seven of those using a quantitative approach, and all the studies were from research conducted in South Korea. Findings were presented in terms of a general overview of the selected studies, eight methods and measures of assessing PCK of special education teachers (i.e. survey, text, questionnaire, interview, lesson observations, meeting observations, document analysis, and concept mapping), and eight components of PCK (e.g. knowledge of students’ (mis)conceptions/difficulties, knowledge of instructional strategies, knowledge of content-related tasks and cognitive demands, knowledge of educational ends, knowledge of curriculum and media, context knowledge, content knowledge, and pedagogical knowledge). Based on the findings, lessons learned from the current status of PCK research in the field of special education in South Korea and ways to strengthen research and practice for special education teachers’ PCK will be discussed.

Development of pre-service teachers’ pedagogical content knowledge and the factors affecting that development: a longitudinal study

The purpose of this longitudinal study was to explore the development of pre-service chemistry teachers’ pedagogical content knowledge regarding the effect of temperature on reaction rate topic as they took pedagogical content knowledge courses throughout the teacher education program. Pre-service teachers’ pedagogical content knowledge was examined under five components: Orientations toward science teaching, Knowledge of curriculum, Knowledge of instructional strategies, Knowledge of learners, and Knowledge of assessment. Two pre-service chemistry teachers participated in the study. Data were collected through a vignette and semi-structured interviews over two years. Analysis of data revealed that both participants’ pedagogical content knowledge components showed development. However, there was an uneven development of components of pedagogical content knowledge. Moreover, the degree and pattern of development were different for some components of pedagogical content knowledge for each participant. The present study has some implications for teacher educators and teacher education programs.

Development of pre-service chemistry teachers’ pedagogical content knowledge through mentoring

The purpose of this study was to develop pre-service chemistry teachers’ pedagogical content knowledge (PCK) regarding atoms and the periodic table via mentoring. Two pre-service chemistry teachers with different levels of academic achievement participated in the study. The development of the participants’ PCK was investigated in terms of the following components: orientations toward science teaching, knowledge of curriculum, knowledge of instructional strategies, knowledge of learners, and knowledge of assessment. The data of this study were collected over four months using multiple data collection tools, including semi-structured interviews, observations, content representations, card-sorting activities, and field notes. The results of this study provided evidence for the relationship between the development of PCK and mentoring. However, as a result of the mentoring, it was determined that the improvements in the PCK components did not occur at the same levels for these participants. One of the participants had an advanced level of improvement in all PCK components through mentoring, while the other participant had varying levels of improvement in PCK components. It was found that the more academically successful participant had more advanced development in all components of PCK as a result of mentoring. For the other participant with lower academic achievement, there was no improvement in some respects of PCK components. According to the results of this study, it can be said that the development of PCK can be fostered through mentoring in pre-service chemistry teacher education. In light of the results of this study, implications are stated for in-service chemistry teacher education, pre-service chemistry teacher education, and chemistry education researchers.

Mathematics Teachers’ Pedagogical Content Knowledge Involving the Relationships between Perimeter and Area

This study aims to investigate and compare mathematics teachers’ knowledge of pedagogical content, knowledge of students’ understanding and knowledge of instructional strategies, subcomponents of pedagogical content knowledge, student errors in the relationship between perimeter and areas in rectangles, squares, and parallelograms. 10 pre-secondary school in-service mathematics teachers and 10 prospective mathematics teachers participated in the study. The qualitative case research approach was used. To collect the data, an interview form consisting of four questions showing student errors related to perimeter and area was prepared. The participants were asked to comment on the questions given in the form, and their answers were recorded. Later, they were asked to write down their answers to these questions. According to the outcomes, there is a lack of knowledge of students’ understanding and knowledge of instructional strategies, which are the subcomponents of the pedagogical content knowledge of prospective mathematics teachers. Moreover, prospective teachers are found to be incompetent as regards the necessary mathematical subject matter knowledge. To prevent difficulties, when the concepts of perimeter and area are taught, instead of giving formulae initially, concrete materials or real-life examples about these concepts should be provided. Keywords: pedagogical content knowledge, perimeter, area, mathematics teachers, prospective mathematics teachers.

The topic-specific nature of experienced chemistry teachers’ pedagogical content knowledge in the topics of interactions between chemical species and states of matter

This study aims to determine the topic-specific nature of two experienced chemistry teachers’ pedagogical content knowledge (PCK) in the topics of interactions between chemical species and states of matter. The teachers’ PCK on these topics was investigated in terms of the following components: orientations toward science teaching (OST), knowledge of curriculum (KoC), knowledge of instructional strategies (KoIS), knowledge of learner (KoL), and knowledge of assessment (KoA). Data for the study were collected over five months using multiple data collection tools, including semi-structured interviews, observations, card-sorting activity, and field notes. PCK is identified in the literature as a topic-specific knowledge. Similarly, chemistry teachers’ PCKs in this study were found to be topic-specific in the topics of interactions between chemical species and states of matter. However, it was seen that some dimensions of the PCK components were not topic-specific. The results indicated that one of the participants’ OST was topic-specific, while the other's was not topic-specific. Further, it was determined that the participants focused on abstract nature in the topic of interactions between chemical species, but they focused on daily life examples in the topic of states of matter. To overcome the students’ difficulties and misconceptions, the participants highlighted abstract nature in the topic of interactions between chemical species and familiar examples in the topic of states of matter. Their KoC differed in terms of relations with other disciplines and curriculum sequence across the topics. Lastly, it was found that the participants’ KoAs consisted of general pedagogical knowledge for both topics. In the light of the results of this study, implications are stated and suggestions on improving the understanding of the topic-specific nature of PCK are provided for in-service chemistry education, pre-service chemistry teacher education, and chemistry education researchers.

Pre-Service Primary School Teachers' Pedagogical Content Knowledge on Quadrilaterals

Abstract: The aim of this study was to investigate pre-service primary school teachers’ (PPSTs) pedagogical content knowledge (PCK) on quadrilaterals. In this study, the PCK components of knowledge of understanding students (KUS) and knowledge of instructional strategies (KIS) were used. The participants of the study consisted of 83 PPSTs studying at the primary education department of a university in Turkey. The illustrative case study method was used, while six scenarios were used as the data collection tool developed by researchers. The data obtained from open-ended scenarios were analyzed by using the summative content analysis technique. As a result of the study, it was observed that the KUS of the PPSTs about quadrilaterals was not on the desired level. Moreover, the KIS of the PPSTs was also not on the desired level. As a result of the study, it was observed that, in the process of eliminating the mistakes of students, the PPSTs preferred mainly the "Direct Instructional" method, which is based on traditional approaches and centers the teacher.

Cross-national investigation of teachers’ pedagogical content knowledge (PCK) in the U.S. and South Korea: what proxy measures of teacher quality are related to PCK?

ABSTRACT Pedagogical content knowledge (PCK) is central to teachers’ professional knowledge impacting student learning and thus is considered a key attribute of teacher quality. Teacher quality is often indirectly examined by proxy measures such as degrees, certification, and teaching experience. To date, little is known how those proxy measures are related to teachers’ PCK levels. This study investigated which proxy measures of teacher quality best predict teachers’ PCK levels with 166 secondary science teachers from the U.S. and South Korea. Additionally, this study compared teachers’ PCK levels in both countries. A PCK survey consisting of 30 dichotomous and open-ended items was administered to secondary science teachers in a Midwest State in the U.S. and Seoul, South Korea. Eighty-five and eighty-one participants from the U.S. and South Korea, respectively, completed surveys. Statistical analyses indicated that biology teaching certification and teaching at the high school level were the most significant predictors of PCK total scores. No significant relationship between teachers’ gender or years of teaching experience and PCK total scores was found. Although Korean teachers exhibited higher PCK total scores than U.S. teachers, teachers from both countries similarly struggled to make connections between knowledge of students’ understanding and knowledge of instructional strategies.

Examining the pedagogical content knowledge of prospective mathematics teachers on the subject of limits

ABSTRACT This research aims to investigate the pedagogical content knowledge (PCK) of prospective mathematics teachers on the subject of limits, based on the two components of PCK: the knowledge of student understanding and the knowledge of instructional strategies. The research sample comprises 33 fourth-year prospective Mathematics teachers (known hereafter as Mathematics Teacher Candidates or MTCs). As a data collection, a tool PCK test was used and the PCK test contains seven questions, including questions related to the misconceptions of students about limits. The MTCs were asked to identify inaccurate answers to each question, to state the causes of the mistakes and to design an instructional process to eliminate these mistakes. A descriptive analysis technique was used to analyze the data. Based on the ‘knowledge of student understanding’ component, it was observed that the MTCs could not find the reasons underlying the mistakes, even though they could determine the student's mistakes. On the other hand, based on the ‘knowledge of instructional strategies’ component, it was seen that most of the MTCs did not fully express their process in correcting the students' mistakes or only gave general answers. It was seen that there were deficiencies in both knowledge components.

Secondary students’ perceptions of their teachers’ pedagogical content knowledge: a scale development study

ABSTRACT Students’ perceptions are one of the sources that can be used to capture teachers’ PCK. Therefore, the aim of this study was to develop a scale to determine secondary students’ perceptions of their teachers’ PCK. Validity and reliability studies were conducted with 659 students. Both exploratory factor analysis and confirmatory factor analysis were done. The scale named secondary school students’ perceptions of their teachers’ pedagogical content knowledge (SPTPCK) scale has two parts. The first part includes four factors containing perceptions about knowledge of students, knowledge of curriculum, knowledge of instructional strategies, and knowledge of assessment. These factors explain 59.340% of the total variance. The second part includes four factors containing perceptions about student-centered, academic rigor, examination-centered and didactic orientations. These factors explain 63.059% of the total variance. The analyses show that the scale is statistically valid and reliable and can be used for examining students’ perceptions of their teachers’ PCK.

MEASURING TEACHERS’ PEDAGOGICAL CONTENT KNOWLEDGE USING MANY-FACET RASCH MODEL

In the context of teacher professional development and teacher certification, an objective measurement of teachers’ Pedagogical Content Knowledge (PCK) is requried. This research is a case study to measure teachers’ PCK within prospective middle school science teachers participating in an Indonesian teacher professional development program. The study used quantitative approach which involved multirater assessment analysed by Many-Facet Rasch Model (MFRM) to assess teachers’ PCK in teaching a specific topic, i.e. “The Particulate Nature of Matter” (PNM). Researchers developed a rubric for items to measure teachers’ enactment PCK for teaching that specific topic. The MFRM analysis of the data revealed item reliability, item validity, separation and unidimensionality fall within good category. The findings show prospective teachers need to improve their PCK specifically in terms of “knowledge of instructional strategies and representations for teaching science” dimension. However, for knowledge of science curriculum and knowledge of students’ understanding in science dimension, the findings show that the participants were competent.

The function and integration of components of pedagogical content knowledge (PCK) in classroom teaching: a case study of business English teachers

ABSTRACTWhile pedagogical content knowledge (PCK) has been studied across a wide range of research areas, including science, language teaching and mathematics, there is limited research on the role of PCK in business English (BE) teaching, an important teaching area of English for Specific Purposes. Informed by the conceptual framework of the PCK model for BE teaching, this study examined how four BE teachers integrated the PCK components in their actual classroom teaching in the English as a Foreign Language (EFL) context in China. The analysis of multiple sources of data including classroom observation, semi-structured interviews and teaching materials, identified the different patterns and ways in which the four PCK components (i.e. knowledge of the purposes of BE teaching, knowledge of instructional strategies for BE teaching, knowledge of students’ understanding of BE, and knowledge of the BE curriculum) functioned and were integrated in BE teaching. Implications for BE teaching practice and suggestions for future research on PCK in BE teaching are presented in the paper.