Specialized Content Knowledge Research Articles

More than ‘pour-and-mix’ – Extending Content Knowledge at the college level through an analysis of coumarin in cinnamon

Abstract The article introduces the layout of a college course on analytical chemistry for pre-service teachers. The course aims at fostering teacher students’ professional knowledge by recapitulating Core Content Knowledge, introducing Specialized Content Knowledge, and complementing it with discipline-overarching Linked Content Knowledge. Synthesizing these types of knowledge is expected to support students in their processes of meaning making. As they realize an every-day relevance of analytical chemistry they will see opportunities to relate chemical knowledge to their later school students. Regarding Linked Content Knowledge, suggestions are given to address aspects related to the Nature of Science. An exemplary lab activity to analyze the coumarin content in cinnamon is provided. Coumarin has shown adverse health effects in a non-neglectable proportion of humans. Regarding cinnamon there are two varieties of cinnamon with significantly different coumarin content: cassia is very rich in coumarin while Ceylon cinnamon is nearly void of it. The more popular cassia has been shown to be so high in coumarin that a potential risk for light weight consumers cannot be ruled out. Regarding school science, the lab activity can raise an awareness with students for the tentative, creative and socio-cultural Natures of Science – right from the students’ kitchen cabinets.

전통무용 태평무 지도자의 전문내용지식 분석

전문내용지식(SCK)과 PCK는 학생들의 학업성취 또는 수행 향상과 관련하여 긴밀하게 연결되어 있다. SCK는 교사들이 학생들에게 전달하는 다양한 학습과제를 통해 학업성취에 긍정적인 영향을 미치기 때문이다(Ward, Kim, Ko & Li, 2015). 이 연구의 목적은 한국무용 태평무 지도자들의 SCK를 조사하는 것이다, 중요무형문화재 제 92호 강선영류 태평무를 이수한 지도자 20명이 연구에 참여 하였다. 지도자들의 SCK를 조사하기 위해 (1) 오류지식과 (2) 과제제시 지식관련 자료를 수집하였다. 연구문제는 첫째, 가르치는 학습자의 수준에 따라 지도자들의 오류지파악식은 차이가 있는가? 둘째, 학생들에게 제시하는 연습과제는 학습자 수준에 따라 차이가 있는가? 이었다. 연구결과 첫째, 중급/고급 무용수에 대한 지도자들의 오류지식은 비슷하였다. 둘째, 전달형과 확장형 과제를 가장 많이 제시하였다. 그리고 중급수준 무용수에게는 실제공연 발표상황으로 연습하는 비게임형(AN), 게임형(AG) 과제제시를 많이 제시하였다. 이러한 연구결과는 실제 무용지도자들의 교수행동을 향상시키고, PCK를 개발하기 위한 무용 예술분야에 적합한 전문내용지식 조사연구가 필요함을 시사한다.

A Primer on Content Knowledge in Physical Education Research

This paper presents a summary of the research on teacher (and preservice teacher) content knowledge within physical education teaching and teacher education. It is organized around the key terms that are predominant in the literature of this field, namely, content knowledge, common content knowledge, and specialized content knowledge. Each of the studies and their key findings are presented within tables. The result is a document that serves as a primer, allowing readers a good understanding of the vocabulary of the field, as well as knowledge of the topics that have been researched to date.

Nursing and paramedicine student and academic perceptions of the two phase debrief model: A thematic analysis

Simulation debriefing standards and models recommend simulation facilitators spend time debriefing learner feelings and clinical reasoning following the simulation scenario. Many debriefing models are available, more so in nursing than in paramedicine, however few models combine specific frameworks to debrief learner feelings and unpack cognitive decisions. The Two Phase Debrief model was designed to support debriefers to spend equal amounts of time debriefing learner felt reactions and clinical decision making, guided by specific tools and skills for each phase. Australian nursing and paramedicine students (n = 19) and academics (n = 9) evaluated the Two Phase Debrief model using a qualitative descriptive design. Analysis of focus group data revealed three themes: Valuing time for debrief, Valuing skills for debrief and Valuing emotions. Across the two disciplines, academics agreed learners would benefit from debriefing using Two Phase Debrief model but considered time a barrier. Nursing and paramedicine students felt the equal time spent exploring emotions and clinical reasoning contributed to a positive learning experience and that expert debriefers may not need disciplinary specific content knowledge. These and other findings discussed indicate there is more work needed to understand the appetite for and required skills of expert cross disciplinary simulation debriefing teams.

Teacher's Specialized Content Knowledge on the Concept of Square: A Vignette Approach

In learning geometry, the discussion about the definition of quadrilateral is a material that is difficult and not easily taught by the teacher. This study aims to explore the teacher's specialized content knowledge about square. This is a descriptive-qualitative research. The process of selecting subjects begins with searching prospective subject data according to the level of the teacher through a portfolio of 82 teachers in South East of Sulawesi: (33 First Teachers, 33 Young Teachers, and 16 Intermediate Teachers). The research subjects consisted of three teachers, namely: First Teacher, Young Teacher dan Intermediate Teacher with score > 50. Data were taken using vignette. The results show that there is a difference when the teacher is asked to define a square with when given a definition of a square. First Teacher is accurate when given a square definition with the symmetry and diagonal axis attributes; the side attribute is not accurate in giving arguments to the square definition. Young Teacher is inaccurate when given the definition of a square with side and angle attributes; accurate with symmetry and diagonal axis attributes; but it is not accurate when given a square definition. Regarding attributes of side; Intermediate Teacher revealed that the side and angle attributes are inaccurate but accurate with the symmetry and diagonal axis attributes but do not appear / are not used when asked to define a square. Specialized content knowledge First Teacher is better because it has been able to reconstruct concepts from a square, but Young Teacher and Intermediate Teacher are still influenced by concept images and figural concepts.

Specialized Dynamic Technology:, Its Role On Developing Specialized Content Knowledge, And Developing Number Sense

Specialized Dynamic Technology:, Its Role On Developing Specialized Content Knowledge, And Developing Number Sense

Changes in the Content Development and Adaptive Competence of Teachers Following a Specialized Content Knowledge Workshop

Purpose: This study examined the effects of a specialized content knowledge workshop on developing teachers’ content development and adaptive competence in teaching badminton. Method: A quasi-experimental design was employed with three middle school physical education teachers who taught five or six badminton lessons before and after the content knowledge workshop (n = 66). Descriptive statistics and univariate analysis of variance were conducted to analyze the data of content development index scores and intratask adaptations. Frequency data across lessons by teachers and treatment conditions were employed for content development patterns. Results: There were statistically significant effects of the workshop in developing the teachers’ use of content development (p = .049) and adaptations (p = .000), but their effects varied by teacher. While the most used content development pattern by the teachers in comparison classes was an informing applying pattern, the teachers used a variety of content development patterns that included more task progressions in the experimental classes. Conclusion: It can be concluded that teachers’ instructional tasks and task adaptations could be improved through a well-designed professional development program. The findings can guide the direction of teacher education and professional development in ways to enhance teachers’ content development and adaptations.

Reflexões e conhecimentos evidenciados por professores que estudam área de figuras planas

This study aims to discuss and understand the process of (re)significance of teachers’ professional knowledge based on discussions and reflections carried out by a group of teachers who teach mathematics for the initial years of the elementary education. The teachers studied how to calculate the area of plane figures using squared arrays. This study is based on Zeichner’s and Serrazina’s research to discuss the reflection on the practice and, in Ball, Thames, and Phelps, to analyse the (re) significance of the knowledge of the professionals involved. The data analysed were collected during the group meetings at the school where the participants taught. Through the analyses of the discussions held, we could observe that the teachers expanded their common and specialised content knowledge, mainly in relation to the strategies to calculate area, and started using reconfiguration of the figures and formulas of area more assertively. Mutual support allowed them to identify their own needs and then modify their analyses of the strategies for area calculation to be adopted.

From Model to Reality: The Role of Implementation Readiness

Arnold and Gagnon’s timely work on the 4-H Thriving Model is an excellent example of the application of developmental science in youth development practice. In their article, the authors describe how 4-H, an established youth development organization, updated the theory of change. Designing an actionable theory of change based on science is indeed a commendable effort for any youth-serving organization. However, the work does not stop there. The diverse 4-H system now has the ultimate challenge of adopting and implementing the principles presented in their theory of change. In this commentary, I discuss the often-overlooked components of implementation readiness: motivation, general capacity, and content-specific knowledge (R=MC2) in relation to the 4-H Thriving Model. When staff are ready, they can succeed in aligning resources and coordinate professional learning for the adults, or implementers, to know and understand the theory of change and associated practices. Fostering learning and development to enact science-informed strategies, as Arnold and Gagnon have done in the 4-H Thriving Model, is critical to developing sound models of youth programming. However, to implement a model into practice, the real and human factors of implementation readiness are key to success.

Incorporating Curriculum Content into Educational Escape Games for Middle School Students

Since 2007, escape rooms have become increasingly popular in mainstream society. The heightened sense of urgency felt when participating in escape games, united with the possibility of engaging students both in academic and soft-skills has led teachers to add escape games to the list of game-based strategies increasingly used in classrooms. Through action research, two educators developed 37 educational escape games for one South Texas middle school over the course of eight months. This article explores the fidelity of incorporating curricular content into educational escape games. Although researchers concluded that it is possible to effectively incorporate content into the educational escape games, it is more difficult than anticipated. Effective inclusion of curriculum content requires a focus on the content objective combined with a high level of content-specific knowledge and pedagogy. Furthermore, game design and logistics can hinder the rigor of the curriculum embedded in the games.

Assessment of elementary mathematics teachers’ probability content knowledge in terms of different meanings of probability

Although the international interest in teaching probability has allowed probability to be treated as a separate learning area in Turkey, its intensity has been reduced and mitigated in the middle school mathematics program. Despite this, the addition of statistics and probability courses for middle school mathematics teacher candidates during their undergraduate education shows the need for them to be trained in these subjects’ teaching. However, it is claimed that the probability knowledge that teacher candidates receive in their undergraduate years is not sufficient; they cannot learn probability with different approaches, and therefore do not have the necessary competence to teach probability. In this case, it is necessary to examine the probability knowledge in terms of common content knowledge (CCK), advanced content knowledge (ACK), and specialized content knowledge (SCK) required to teach the probability of mathematics teacher candidates. In this study, probability content knowledge (CCK, ACK, and SCK) of mathematics teacher candidates was examined in the context of different meanings of probability (classical, frequentist, and subjective). According to the general results obtained by applying the probability content knowledge test, which was adapted to Turkish to 98 teacher candidates, it was found that the content knowledge in which participants were most successful was CCK and had a sufficient level of understanding for the classical meaning of probability. However, it was found that there are deficiencies in teacher candidates for ACK and SCK, and their understanding of the frequentist and subjective approach of probability is insufficient. It was recommended to improve and expand the scope of statistics and probability courses given during university education. In parallel, restructuring middle school mathematics programs could be applied to emphasize classical and other meanings of probability.

Improving Knowledge Gain in Secondary School Agricultural Education through Supervised Agricultural Experience Programme (SAEP) in Migori County, Kenya

This study focused on determining the influence of SAEP on knowledge gain in secondary school agricultural education among Form Three students in Migori County, Kenya. It zeroed on analysing the differences in knowledge gained in agriculture between two groups, one taking part in SAEP and the other not taking part. It utilised quasi-experimental design, particularly the pre-test and post-test none-equivalent control group design incorporating a sample of 384 forms three agriculture students in Migori County. A test for measuring learning outcomes was used to collect data before and after the programme. Analysis of data was done using SPSS (Version 22). Descriptive statistics were used to present and describe data while inferential statistics were used test hypotheses at α = 0.05. The study established that there was a statistically significant difference in the acquisition of knowledge of specific agriculture content between secondary school agriculture students exposed to SAEP as opposed to the control group.

Teaching Pickleball with In-Depth Content Knowledge in Middle School Physical Education

This article describes specific components of each common content knowledge and specialized content knowledge within the pickleball context. In addition, it provides possible examples of each element aligning with the national grade-level outcomes associated with net games for 6–8th graders. This article allows teachers who are seeking meaningful and relevant resources for teaching pickleball to deepen understandings of the pickleball content, thereby giving their students opportunities for successful learning in physical education.

Analysis of Mathematical Content Knowledge of Elementary Teachers in Lampung Utara Regency: A Baseline Study

According to TIMSS 2015 and PISA 2018 reports, Indonesian students’ knowledge and skills of mathematics are still far from adequate compare to other countries. Therefore the efforts to improve the condition need to done, not just by government but also educational institutions and movements. One of new movement is Gerakan Nasional Berantas Buta Matematika (GernasTastaka, 2018). This baseline study aims to describe and analysis the mathematical content knowledge of 100 elementary teachers from Lampung Utara regency that joined the workshop of mathematics teaching and learning which was developed and facilitated by team from Gernas Tastaka. The eight-question multiple choice pre-test covers Number and Operation, Measurement, Data Analysis, and Probability. Each question is related to specific mathematical content knowledge and skill that are supposed to be mastered by grade 6 students. The quantitative descriptive for each question was conducted to give more details on specific mathematical content knowledge. The result displays that only 36% of the participants can answer correctly 50% of the questions. The low competency of teachers gives impact to their students’ achievement. It is correspondent with the data from Indonesian National Assessment Program (INAP, 2012); mathematics competency of elementary students in Lampung province is below Indonesian national level. One of the teachers’ competencies is their mastery of content knowledge. This study recommends that future developmental workshops/ program for the participants must cover all mathematical content knowledge and skills of elementary level. Besides that, detailed data of participants should be provided in order to attain more reliable analysis.

Secondary Mathematics Teachers' Content Knowledge for Teaching the Concept of Function

This study examined secondary mathematics teachers' content knowledge for teaching the concept of function. Content knowledge, for the purpose of this study, includes the common content knowledge and specialized content knowledge domains of Ball and her colleagues' Mathematical Knowledge for Teaching (MKT) framework. Data were collected through a 10-item questionnaire from 42 teachers practicing at fifteen different industrial vocational high schools in Ankara, Turkey. Findings revealed that most of the teachers placed a strong emphasis on the set correspondence and algebraic representations; found the uniqueness condition of functions very important for students to understand; and had a wide repertoire of examples of functions which constitute the uniqueness condition. The teachers' choice of examples mostly included giving set correspondence relations and checking whether they define a function. Additionally, a strong focus on the computational aspects associated with functions was evident. The teachers' understanding of the function concept might be influenced by the curricular materials, contextual factors, and high-stakes testing. The methodological and practical implications of these findings are discussed, and directions for future studies are offered.

The TAWOCK conceptual model at content knowledge for professional teaching in vocational education

Now days, the integration of technology in the concept of learning is the trend in global education. The conceptual framework model is a general reference, and the only concept is Technology, Pedagogy, and Content Knowledge (TPACK). However, vocational education has knowledge of specific content, so adjusting conceptual models in professional learning is important to learn and offer. The purpose of this study is to evaluate the concept of TPACK into the concept of vocational education to improve the professionalism of vocational teachers in content knowledge. The author discusses the knowledge structure of vocational fields that are built based on work, content, technology, and the suitability of the learning approach. Based on the results of the article found a new construction in building knowledge in the field of vocational education with special expertise characteristics and shifting pedagogical concepts towards andragogy in learning concept. The results of the analysis recommend the TPACK concept transformed into the Technology, Andragogy, Work, and Content Knowledge (TAWOCK) concept in vocational learning.

The Impact of Play Practice on Chinese Physical Education Pre-Service Teachers Badminton Content Knowledge

OBJECTIVES This study examined the development of Chinese pre-service physical education teachers’ technical skill, tactical understanding, game performance (common content knowledge - CCK), and specialized content knowledge (SCK) during a badminton course incorporating Play Practice instruction.METHODS Participants were 36 pre-service teachers (31 males, 5 females: age 21 ± 1.0) majoring in physical education at a university in central China. The students completed a 24 lesson course after a 16 weeks semester. A typical lesson (90 minutes) included a 10-minute warm-up, followed by instruction in two or three technical skills or tactics for 50-55 minutes. The final 25-minutes included the Play Practice aspect of the lesson - a specific game-based challenge to reinforce a technical or tactical aspect of badminton play. The challenge included the three typical pedagogies of Play Practice: focusing, shaping, and enhancing. The French clear test, tactical understanding in badminton, Game Performance Assessment Instrument (GPAI), and student-generated content maps were used to respectively monitor changes in technical skills, tactical understanding, game performance, and specialized content knowledge before and after the course. Parametric statistics were used to compare student outcomes.RESULTS Statistically significant differences were found on all measures from pre- to post-test, with all showing large effect sizes. In particular, over 75% of students achieved the benchmark depth of SCK following the course.CONCLUSIONS The inclusion of Play Practice within a sport instruction course can contribute to various elements that are needed to promote the CCK and SCK of pre-service physical education students.

Investigating U.S. Preschool Teachers’ Math Teaching Knowledge in Counting and Numbers

ABSTRACT Research Findings: The aim of this study was to investigate U.S. preschool teachers’ math teaching knowledge in a specific content domain: counting and numbers. One hundred in-service and pre-service teachers participated in the study; they completed a questionnaire that is composed of learning scenarios and scenario-based math teaching questions. A mixed qualitative and quantitative method was applied in analyzing the data. Results show that the majority of U.S. preschool teachers failed to identify the concept of count-out that is embedded in a math game, the one-to-one correspondence error was the most identified counting error comparing to the other errors such as the cardinality principle error, and the knowledge of content and teaching appears to be more satisfactory than specialized content knowledge or knowledge of content and students. Practice or Policy: The study serves to fill some gap in addressing a pressing need in the field that is to identify and measure the unique body of preschool teachers’ math teaching knowledge. The study also justifies that preschool teachers need intensive training such as a coursework that wholly focuses on math teaching in order for their math teaching knowledge to be more refined and teaching to be more knowledge-informed.

A national analysis of the content knowledge of Turkish physical education teacher education students

ABSTRACT Background: Content knowledge is universally acknowledged as one of several knowledge bases that inform pedagogical content knowledge (PCK). Content knowledge has been both hypothesized and demonstrated to influence PCK in two ways. First, teachers must know the rules, safety, etiquette, technique, and tactics of a movement form to teach it. This domain of content knowledge is called common content knowledge (CCK), that is the knowledge that one needs to perform the content. Second, in addition teachers must also know how to select, design, and represent instructional tasks that describe the rules, safety, etiquette, techniques, and tactics to students in ways that they will understand and respond to errors by students in terms of rules, safety, etiquette, techniques, and tactics, that is called specialized content knowledge (SCK) for physical education. Purpose: This study examined the effects of teacher training on the levels of soccer and gymnastics CCK and SCK that preservice teachers learn in physical education teacher education (PETE) programs. Method: Participants were 1514 undergraduate physical education teacher education students (i.e. freshman n = 435; sophomore n = 397; junior n = 383; senior n = 299) enrolled in 16 universities that were representative of all geographical regions of Turkey. A cross-sectional analysis was conducted to examine the depth of CCK and SCK. To measure the depth of CCK, we used validated multiple-choice soccer and gymnastics tests. Content maps were used to examine the depth of SCK. To analyze the differences in the CCK and SCK scores of soccer and gymnastics at each grade level, a one-way ANOVA test, and Bonferroni follow-up test was used. To compare the differences between the entrance and exit CCK and SCK levels, t-test was utilized. In addition, we conducted an analysis of content class syllabi and interviews with the instructors (soccer n = 8; gymnastics n = 9) to determine the extent to which the content and delivery of the courses distinguished between CCK and SCK. Findings: Regardless of the grade level, PETE students’ CCK scores were below the success criterion of 60% that is being used in the Turkish Higher Education system (the soccer CCK = 51.85%; the gymnastics CCK = 49.91%). In terms of SCK, scores were below the 3.0 benchmark of adequate SCK (the soccer SCK = 0.23; the gymnastics SCK = 0.20). Despite the significance of differences between CCK and SCK scores among grade levels, the scores were very low showing little content knowledge. Conclusion: Freshman data showed that neither CCK nor SCK in soccer and gymnastics were acquired at meaningful levels upon entering PETE programs. The students in PETE programs examined in this study demonstrated limited improvement in CCK and SCK from freshmen to seniors. Turkish PETE programs must be redesigned to teach each domain of content knowledge. Results of this study may help to change the prevalent, though incorrect, mindset that students obtain CCK and SCK by learning how to perform a sport.

Pre-service primary teachers have a say on genericism in mathematics curriculum preparation

The purpose of this paper is to document pre-service primary school teachers’ responses to manifestations of genericism in mathematics teacher preparation. Specifically, it documents their responses to curriculum units that focus on developing mathematical content knowledge and specific mathematical pedagogical knowledge. Contextualised in an Australian initial teacher education program, the pre-service teachers (n = 789) were surveyed at the commencement of their units to gain insights into what they considered important to learn in their forthcoming mathematics curriculum units. Qualitative responses to the survey were categorised using thematic analysis and then used to guide the development of tailored units. The mathematics curriculum units focused on attempting to ensure depth of school mathematics content knowledge and specific pedagogy associated with this mathematics. A second survey, administered through post-course evaluations (n = 405), suggests that pre-service teachers overwhelmingly valued the modelling of specific pedagogies and scaffolding of the teaching and learning of school mathematics concepts. The results have implications for the teaching of mathematics in initial teacher education programs, particularly in Australia but also elsewhere where there is an increasing emphasis on pre-service teachers being classroom ready at graduation. This includes a deep and connected knowledge of the mathematics and range of pedagogies for the mathematics they will soon be certified to teach.