Professional Content Knowledge Research Articles

Development and Application of a Domain-Specific TPACK Questionnaire—Findings from a Longitudinal Study on Teaching Human Biology Using Digital Tools

AbstractThere are several specific digital tools now that have transformed the way science is taught. Correspondingly, teacher education programs have changed, and now they increasingly address the development of technology-related professional content knowledge (TPACK). Owing to the use of technology in specific domains of science teaching, there is an emergent need for domain-specific TPACK questionnaires. The present study investigates the development and application of a domain-specific TPACK questionnaire for teaching human biology using digital tools in a university-based teacher education program. A quasi-experimental between-subject design was applied for 13 weeks in the four study groups (n = 155). The intervention groups worked with digital tools in human biology, while the control groups participated without specific consideration of digital tools throughout the program. We succeeded in developing a questionnaire comprising seven reliable scales. The questionnaire development procedure described herein may be applicable to other science education disciplines. By the means of linear mixed modeling, we found that all students gained professional knowledge; however, treatment × time interactions revealed that belonging to the intervention group was the main driver of TPACK progression. Comparing the treatments, we found that at post-test, the intervention group reported higher levels of TPCK, TPK, and TCK, but not CK, PK, TK, and PCK. Sequential analyses of the longitudinal data highlighted that working with digital tools on a regular basis constitutes a TPACK boost effect. This study contributes to the literature on technology integration from the perspective of biology education, where specific tools that can be assessed using a domain-specific questionnaire are used.

Innovative Teacher: From the Perspectives of Pre-Service Foreign Language Teachers

The aim of this study is to determine and describe the features of innovative teachers from the perspective of pre-service teachers. For this purpose, this study took a qualitative approach and included 139 pre-service teachers studying at the 1st, 2nd, 3rd, and 4th grades in the English Language and German Language Teaching Departments in the Education Faculty of a Public University. The data obtained via an open-ended survey form developed by researchers in the context of this study. The data obtained was analyzed with the content analysis method and then interpreted. The results of the analysis showed that pre-service teachers created 90 metaphors classified under seven different themes: "current," "open to change", "guide", "creative", "open to learning", "student-centered instruction," and "building positive relationships" to describe innovative teachers. Then, the pre-service teachers described the qualities of innovative teachers with their views classified under seven categories, which were in line with the themes obtained from metaphor analysis. For the last dimension of the study, they expressed their views regarding their needs to be able to be innovative teachers. According to their views, they need to have the knowledge and improve themselves in the following six categories: pedagogical content knowledge, digital competencies, professional content knowledge, communication skills, interdisciplinary knowledge, and knowledge of instructional technologies and material design. The themes were presented and discussed in a way of unity, so suggestions were made within the scope of the study. The aim of this study is to determine and describe the features of innovative teachers from the perspective of pre-service teachers. For this purpose, this study took a qualitative approach and included 139 pre-service teachers studying at the 1st, 2nd, 3rd, and 4th grades in the English Language and German Language Teaching Departments in the Education Faculty of a Public University. The data obtained via an open-ended survey form developed by researchers in the context of this study. The data obtained was analyzed with the content analysis method and then interpreted. The results of the analysis showed that pre-service teachers created 90 metaphors classified under seven different themes: "current," "open to change", "guide", "creative", "open to learning", "student-centered instruction," and "building positive relationships" to describe innovative teachers. Then, the pre-service teachers described the qualities of innovative teachers with their views classified under seven categories, which were in line with the themes obtained from metaphor analysis. For the last dimension of the study, they expressed their views regarding their needs to be able to be innovative teachers. According to their views, they need to have the knowledge and improve themselves in the following six categories: pedagogical content knowledge, digital competencies, professional content knowledge, communication skills, interdisciplinary knowledge, and knowledge of instructional technologies and material design. The themes were presented and discussed in a way of unity, so suggestions were made within the scope of the study.

Swedish dental students’ clinical notes and reflections as part of a case-based examination – challenges for undergraduate education

Clinical records are the basis for clinical reasoning, diagnostics, treatment planning, and management as well as for management of the patient and the outcome of the treatment, and therefore an important aspect of health professionals’ work. Several articles emphasize the importance of adequate and correct content in these records. Previous research shows that even health professionals need to improve the content and structure of their clinical records, for them to give the information needed for various needs. The focus of this article are the clinical records of undergraduate dental students. The aim of the study was to explore patterns of adequate and inadequate content in clinical notes of undergraduate dental students in their final year of education. Secondly, whether these results could provide insights for development of health professions education. Data comprised of 33 cased-based examinations collected during January 2020 at the University Dental Clinic, Department of Dental Medicine, Karolinska Institutet, in Huddinge Sweden. Also, data included teachers’ assessment of these examinations. The texts were analyzed with thematic analysis. Analytical results showed three themes. The first theme, (i) Professional content knowledge, concerned information in patient history, status, diagnostics and treatment plan, and an information ambiguity. The theme also included the students' use of professional terminology and the choice of articles to support reflections. The second theme (ii) incomplete method of investigation involved the actual patient interview, but also students’ various misunderstandings of the template. The third theme was (iii) Academic formalities. This theme concerned students' understanding of the purpose of referencing and its function, but also a non-use of references, the use of irrelevant references, errors in the given citation style, and an incorrect structure of the text according to the template. In conclusion, results showed the need for continuous training in clinical note-taking and reflections during dental students' professional education. In this training, teachers’ assessment is important for students' development of professional literacy and professional judgment. Also, a continuous reminder of science and proven experience as the basis for the profession which is also made visible through academic formalities.

WhatsApp Discourse Throughout COVID-19: TowardsComputerized Evaluation of the Development of a STEM Teachers Professional Learning Community.

The online version contains supplementarymaterial available at10.1007/s40593-022-00320-3.

Analyzing the VARK Model of Pre - Service Teachers PCK of Learning

The style of learning refers to the way an individual gains and applies creativity to acquire skills or knowledge. Teachers are accountable for delivering high-quality instruction. As a result, teachers must be able to create an engaging learning environment that draws students' attention to the material being taught. This study will explore the advantages of the VARK (Visual, Aural, Reading or Writing, and Kinesthetic) paradigm as a very effective learning approach. The study's purpose was to investigate whether there is a significant correlation between learning preferences of first-year undergraduate pre-service teachers using the VARK model and their age and programme of study. The population of the participants is 219 students in the B. Ed programme in St. Teresa’s College of Education in Ghana. The purposive sampling was used to select participants for the study however, only 176 of them conveniently responded to the questionnaire. Of these 39 were Early Childhood Education (ECE) students, 116 Primary Education (PE) students and 21 Home Economics (HE) students. The VARK Questionnaire (Version 8.01) was adopted and used for data collection. Descriptively, it was noted that 22(12.5%) of the participants prefer Visual learning only, and 37(21.0%), 19(10.8%) prefer Aural, Reading/Writing and Kinesthetic learning only respectively. Meanwhile, some participants indicated that they prefer learning in more than one of the models, thus 30(25.6%) 13(7.4) and 10(5.7) prefer learning in Bimodal, Trimodal Quadrimodal respectively. Principal Component Analysis (PCA) with varimax rotation was conducted to assess the underlying structure for the 16 items of the VARK learning model. Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) of the main effect of age and programme of study on the VARK learning model of the pre – service teachers were assed. It was found that there is statistically significance difference between the mean scores of the pre – service teachers in the age brackets of 18-23 and 24-29 years of the study (F1, 174 =.001, p < .05). There was a statistically significant difference between programmes of study as determined by one-way ANOVA (F (2,173) = 8.457, p = .001). A Tukey post hoc test revealed that using the VARK learning model there was statistically significantly difference between PE (3.09 ± 1.5, p = .001) and ECE pre – service teachers (4.15 ± 1.7, p = .001) but not PE and HE pre – service teachers (3.75 ± 1.05, p = .301) programmes of study. Again, there was no statistically significant difference between the ECE and HE programme of study (p = .646). It is therefore, recommended teachers should vary their lessons to meet the needs and learning styles of all learnings by the VARK instructional tools or resources. Keywords: VARK, Model, Pre-service teachers, Professional Content Knowledge, St. Teresa’s College of Education

예비체육교사들의 표현활동 전문내용지식(SCK) 변화

The purpose of this study is to analyze the expertise of pre-service teachers in expression activities. Changes in professional content knowledge of pre-service teachers were investigated through dance education lectures dealing with the subject content of expression activities, teaching methods and knowledge of pre-service teachers. Content map was used to measure the SCK of pre-service teachers according to the purpose of the study. In this study, graduate students (n=9) enrolled in the physical education department of the graduate school that trains teachers participated in the study. It was distributed-recovered directly to collect related data, and the collected data were (a) Content map instrument, (b) Content development categories, and (c) Measurement of depth of knowledge was calculated. As a result of the study, first, pre-service teachers

PREPARING SUSTAINABLE SCHOOL-TEACHERS TOWARD ONLINE LEARNING THROUGH HOT POTATO QUIZ-MAKER MEDIATED INSTRUCTION: A COMMUNITY SERVICE PROGRAM

Professional Content Knowledge of Indonesian junior high school teachers are truly challenged during the Covid-19 Pandemic. To overcome these limitations, this community program aims to empower junior high school teachers, especially at SMPN 1 Kedawung in designing online learning through the platforms of google and potato quiz makers. Workshop was designed to help overcoming the situation. Fifteen recommended teachers participated in the workshop. From the observation and questionnaire analysis, the results showed teachers’ instructional improvement in handling and designing online assessment and evaluation throughout hot potato quizzes and google-supported application.

An Action Research in Critical Thinking Concept Designed Curriculum Based on Collaborative Learning for Engineering Ethics Course

(1) Background: Critical thinking, CT, contributes to success in both career and higher education, and may be more important than professional content knowledge. Nevertheless, it is challenging to cultivate CT in a standalone course, especially for the engineering students who think less critically than those in other colleges. (2) Methods: This research incorporated CT concept into 18 weeks curriculum of Engineering·ethics and Society course, with the assistance of collaborative learning process for formative assessment and problem-based learning for summative assessment, in addition to 3 questionnaires to evaluate the progress in CT and collaboration. (3) Results: Both measurements in CT and collaboration improved significantly. In general, the participants enjoyed the course materials and thought these CT and values infused course activities were helpful to the learning. On the other hand, CT was also the most noticeable problem. About one over every five participants lacked the habit to think, while 17% of participants were afraid of complex questions to think. In addition, 10% doubted their CT skills. It concludes that total 46% participants thought CT is their most crucial shortage. (4) Conclusions: the pretest demonstrated the CT of the participants was below the college norm; fortunately, the assistance of the social interaction, including team work practices, peer evaluation, and pressure to push individuals work harder and think deeper, did promote their CT cognitive development.

English Language Teacher’s Professional Attitude and Classroom Management Parameters

English language learning in the context of secondary and higher secondary schools in Pakistan has always been challenging to students and parents alike. This study aimed to explore the classroom management skills and strategies of English language teachers in the capital city of Karachi. Teacher’s motivation stimulates appropriate behavior that ensures teacher’s performance of their duties. This study followed qualitative methods’ parameters to explore the natural phenomena of the participant’s perceptions and experiences. The study was conducted in 15 secondary schools located in Karachi, Pakistan. The findings has shown that further learning opportunities of ELT learning, interaction and exchange of ideas globally, students’ participation in EL learning activities, professional education and in-service trainings are the most influenced motivational factors of secondary schools English Language teachers. Availability of ELT materials, respect from department officers, colleagues, society and parents and demand from students were found necessary skills to operate classrooms apart from professional content knowledge.

Professional knowledge affects action‐related skills: The development of preservice physics teachers' explaining skills during a field experience

AbstractProfessional knowledge is an important source of science teachers' actions in the classroom (e.g., personal professional content knowledge [pedagogical content knowledge, PCK] is the source of enacted PCK in the refined consensus model [RCM] for PCK). However, the evidence for this claim is ambiguous at best. This study applied a cross‐lagged panel design to examine the relationship between professional knowledge and actions in one particular instructional situation: explaining physics. Pre‐ and post a field experience (one semester), 47 preservice physics teachers from four different universities were tested for their content knowledge (CK), PCK, pedagogical knowledge (PK), and action‐related skills in explaining physics. The study showed that joint professional knowledge (the weighted sum of CK, PCK, and PK scores) at the beginning of the field experience impacted the development of explaining skills during the field experience (β = .38**). We interpret this as a particular relationship between professional knowledge and science teachers' action‐related skills (enacted PCK): professional knowledge is necessary for the development of explaining skills. That is evidence that personal PCK affects enacted PCK. In addition, field experiences are often supposed to bridge the theory‐practice gap by transforming professional knowledge into instructional practice. Our results suggest that for field experiences to be effective, preservice teachers should start with profound professional knowledge.

Understanding the Learning Challenges of English-Medium Instruction Learners and Ways to Facilitate Their Learning: A Case Study of Taiwan Psychology Students’ Perspectives

English-medium instruction (EMI) has become a global education phenomenon in recent decades, especially in higher education. However, its implementation is still facing criticism. On the one hand, learners are welcoming the envisaged benefits of preparing them with professional content knowledge and English language proficiency to compete in the new global economy; on the other hand, they are reluctant to take the courses because of the challenges and difficulties EMI creates. Meanwhile, EMI lecturers are concerned about students’ inability to survive, or better still thrive through EMI learning. EMI lecturers are experts in their professional domain but are not trained or prepared to teach EMI courses yet. This qualitative study examines the perception of first-year undergraduate students taking the EMI foundation psychology course in Taiwan, focusing on their perspectives of factors facilitating or hindering their EMI learning, and their suggestions for improving the situation. The results not only point out what kinds of teaching practices contribute to challenges for EMI learners in their learning process but also the underlying reasons and the pedagogy practice that students suggest can be used to improve the situation. Insights provided by this study can be used to assist EMI lecturers in examining their pedagogical practice and expand their knowledgeability about pedagogy. They can also be used as a way forward for assisting in the development of EMI teacher training and professional development, and the implementation of EMI.

Developing Assessments of Content Knowledge for Teaching Using Evidence-centered Design

ABSTRACTAssessments of teacher content knowledge are increasingly designed to provide evidence of the content knowledge needed to carry out the moment-to-moment work of teaching. Often these assessments focus on content knowledge only used in teaching with the goal of testing types of professional content knowledge. In this paper, we argue that while this general approach has produced powerful exemplars of new types of assessment tasks, it has been less successful in developing tests that provide more general evidence of the range of content knowledge associated with particular teaching practices. To illustrate a more systematic approach, we describe the use of evidence-centered design (ECD) to develop an assessment of content knowledge for teaching (CKT) in the area of secondary physics-energy.

Teachers’ use of digital learning tool for teaching in higher education

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to explore teachers’ use of digital learning tools for teaching in higher education. Moreover, it investigates how the use of digital tools affects educational practices and how teachers experience the culture of sharing among colleagues and within the organisation.Design/methodology/approachA qualitative methodology was chosen, and semi-structured interviews were conducted with teachers at a higher education institution in Norway. The study uses the TPACK-framework, which illustrates the relationship between technology, professional content knowledge and pedagogical approaches as its theoretical foundation.FindingsThe findings conclude that teachers are concerned with the convergence of how technology and digital learning tools can support educational processes by engaging and involving the students. The findings further indicate that they are committed to using digital tools to motivate, engage and facilitate student-based education, which in turn leads to more reflection on teachers’ own teaching practices. Based on the theory of Professional Learning Communities, the respondents agree that sharing is a basic prerequisite for a learning organisation. They experience, however, that sharing between colleagues is easier in formal forums than at informal settings.Originality/valueThe rapid development of technology suggests that many sectors including the education sector must adapt to the new changes in their teaching practices. Nevertheless, many teachers merely use the basic form of digital learning tools to distribute the teaching materials, as such tools are less utilised to support students’ learning process (Fossland, 2015). The research indicates that digital learning tools have positive effect on teaching practices and that they can function as tools to improve the teachers’ own teaching practices. Positive teaching practices should also be shared in a learning organisation to improve teaching practices on an organisational level. Hence, sharing at a professional level can impact learning and the organisational culture in academic institutions.

Professional Content Knowledge of Grades One—Three Teachers in Sweden for Reading and Writing Instruction: Language Structures, Code Concepts, and Spelling Rules

In this study, Swedish teachers of grades 1–3, with various teacher-training backgrounds, were tested to determine if they have the requisite awareness of language elements and the way these elements are represented in writing. The results were poor, yet the indication was that teachers with a good educational background in literacy and a good deal of teaching experience know significantly more than teachers whose teacher training included fewer or no courses in literacy instruction and who had less experience. The results indicate that it may be difficult for many teachers in the sample to provide adequate instruction in basic reading and writing. However, the study did not investigate how knowledge is used in practice, on which further research is needed. The importance of professional content knowledge is discussed.

Teacher Professional Learning: An Analysis of Teachers’ Views on Their Professional Content Knowledge

The study sought to capture teachers’ views on their professional learning. It was a qualitative case study. Six teachers from two different teacher clusters participated in the study. Data were analysed through thematic content analysis. Findings indicated that participants displayed adequate understanding of their professional practice and the variables that enhance or hamper it. A recommendation to pay attention to teachers’ voices in the creation and design of their professional development programmes was made.

Module‐based professional development for teachers: a cost‐effective Philippine experiment

This article examines the impact of implementing module‐based professional development for teachers (MBPDT) in the Philippines. A mixed‐method study, experimental design with empirical surveys and an open‐ended questionnaire revealed that the experimental group of teachers had greater professional content knowledge compared with the control group after five weeks of implementing MBPDT. However, the experiment did not yield significant effects on the teachers’ commitment levels or on their pupils’ mathematics proficiency levels. Another significant finding showed that the more experienced teachers in the experimental group possessed slightly higher commitment after the intervention. Finally, results of the study suggest that a larger scale implementation of MBPDT may be undertaken as a cost‐effective option for teachers’ professional development.

Effectiveness of preservice music teacher education programs: Perceptions of early-career music teachers

The quality of teaching in schools is directly linked to the quality of preservice preparation that teachers receive. This is particularly important in the area of music teacher education, given the unique challenges that classroom music teachers commonly face. This paper reports on research designed to investigate the knowledge and skills that early-career music teachers perceive to be necessary to function effectively in the classroom, and their perceptions of the effectiveness of current teacher education programs in preparing them to teach secondary classroom music. Questionnaires were completed by 76 secondary classroom music teachers in their first three years of teaching in Queensland, Australia. Importance-Performance Analysis was used to determine those areas of the preservice course that constituted a high priority for attention. The findings suggest that preservice teachers need increased support in their development of pedagogical content knowledge and skills, and non-pedagogical professional content knowledge and skills. This research provides an empirical basis for reconceptualising music teacher education courses and raises important issues that music teacher educators need to address in order to ensure that graduates are adequately prepared for classroom music teaching.

O conteúdo do conhecimento profissional de duas professoras de Matemática

This paper is based on a research carried out in a middle school (5-8 grades). Its aim was to understand the professional knowledge of two 5/6grades mathematics teachers. The goals were to understand the main sources and characteristics of that knowledge and also how they relate to each other. This paper focus in this professional content knowledge inner substance. After a brief theoretical framework and methodological description, we analyse teachers common characteristics and describe teachers’ knowledge trying to illustrate their several aspects.