Understanding And Developing Science Teachers Pedagogical Content Knowledge

There has been a growing interest in the notion of a scholarship of teaching. Such scholarship is displayed through a teacher’s grasp of, and response to, the relationships between knowledge of content, teaching and learning in ways that attest to practice as being complex and interwoven. Yet attempting to capture teachers’ professional knowledge is difficult because the critical links between practice and knowledge, for many teachers, is tacit. Pedagogical Content Knowledge (PCK) offers one way of capturing, articulating and portraying an aspect of the scholarship of teaching and, in this case, the scholarship of science teaching. The research underpinning the approach developed by Loughran, Berry and Mulhall offers access to the development of the professional knowledge of science teaching in a form that offers new ways of sharing and disseminating this knowledge. Through this Resource Folio approach (comprising CoRe and PaP-eRs) a recognition of the value of the specialist knowledge and skills of science teaching is not only highlighted, but also enhanced. The CoRe and PaP-eRs methodology offers an exciting new way of capturing and portraying science teachers’ pedagogical content knowledge so that it might be better understood and valued within the profession. This book is a concrete example of the nature of scholarship in science teaching that is meaningful, useful and immediately applicable in the work of all science teachers (preservice, in-service and science teacher educators). It is an excellent resource for science teachers as well as a guiding text for teacher education. Understanding teachers' professional knowledge is critical to our efforts to promote quality classroom practice. While PCK offers such a lens, the construct is abstract. In this book, the authors have found an interesting and engaging way of making science teachers' PCK concrete, useable, and meaningful for researchers and teachers alike. It offers a new and exciting way of understanding the importance of PCK in shaping and improving science teaching and learning. Professor Julie Gess-Newsome Dean of the Graduate School of Education Williamette University This book contributes to establishing CoRes and PaP-eRs as immensely valuable tools to illuminate and describe PCK. The text provides concrete examples of CoRes and PaP-eRs completed in “real-life” teaching situations that make stimulating reading. The authors show practitioners and researchers alike how this approach can develop high quality science teaching. Dr Vanessa Kind Director Science Learning Centre North East School of Education Durham University

There has been a growing interest in the notion of a scholarship of teaching. Such scholarship is displayed through a teacher’s grasp of, and response to, the relationships between knowledge of content, teaching and learning in ways that attest to practice as being complex and interwoven. Yet attempting to capture teachers’ professional knowledge is difficult because the critical links between practice and knowledge, for many teachers, is tacit. Pedagogical Content Knowledge (PCK) offers one way of capturing, articulating and portraying an aspect of the scholarship of teaching and, in this case, the scholarship of science teaching. The research underpinning the approach developed by Loughran, Berry and Mulhall offers access to the development of the professional knowledge of science teaching in a form that offers new ways of sharing and disseminating this knowledge. Through this Resource Folio approach (comprising CoRe and PaP-eRs) a recognition of the value of the specialist knowledge and skills of science teaching is not only highlighted, but also enhanced. The CoRe and PaP-eRs methodology offers an exciting new way of capturing and portraying science teachers’ pedagogical content knowledge so that it might be better understood and valued within the profession. This book is a concrete example of the nature of scholarship in science teaching that is meaningful, useful and immediately applicable in the work of all science teachers (preservice, in-service and science teacher educators). It is an excellent resource for science teachers as well as a guiding text for teacher education.

Jan van Driel presents an overview of his research on the professional knowledge that science teachers develop and enact in their teaching to promote student understanding and engagement in science.

This ambitious text is the first of its kind to summarize the theory, research, and practice related to pedagogical content knowledge. The audience is provided with a functional understanding of the basic tenets of the construct as well as its applications to research on science teacher education and the development of science teacher education programs.

The book presents key perspectives on teaching and learning science in India. It offers adaptive expertise to teachers and educators through a pedagogic content knowledge (PCK) approach. Using cases and episodes from Indian science classrooms to contextualise ideas and practices, the volume discusses the nature of science, and aspects of assessments and evaluations for both process skills and conceptual understanding of the subject. It examines the significance of science education at school level and focuses on meaningful learning and development of scientific and technological aptitude. The chapters deal with topics from physics, chemistry and biology at the middle- and secondary-school levels, and are designed to equip student-teachers with theoretical and practical knowledge abilities about science, science learning and the abilities to teach these topics along with teaching. The book draws extensively from research on science education and teacher education and shifts away from knowledge transmission to the active process of constructivist teaching-learning practices. The authors use illustrative examples to highlight flexible planning for inclusive classrooms. Based on studies on cognitive and developmental psychology, pedagogical content knowledge of science, socio-cultural approaches to learning science, and the history and philosophy of science, the book promotes an understanding of science characterized by empirical criteria, logical arguments and sceptical reviews. With its accessible style, examples, exercises and additional references, it will be useful for students and teachers of science, science educators, BEd and MEd programmes for education, secondary and higher secondary school teachers, curriculum designers and developers of science. It will interest research institutes, non-governmental organisations, professionals and public and private sector bodies involved in science outreach, science education and teaching and learning practices.

Pedagogical Content Knowledge (PCK) has been adapted, adopted, and taken up in a diversity of ways in science education since the concept was introduced in the mid-1980s. Now that it is so well embedded within the language of teaching and learning, research and knowledge about the construct needs to be more useable and applicable to the work of science teachers, especially so in these times when standards and other measures are being used to define their knowledge, skills, and abilities. Re-examining Pedagogical Content Knowledge in Science Education is organized around three themes: Re-examining PCK: Issues, ideas and development; Research developments and trajectories; Emerging themes in PCK research. Featuring the most up-to-date work from leading PCK scholars in science education across the globe, this volume maps where PCK has been, where it is going, and how it now informs and enhances knowledge of science teachers’ professional knowledge. It illustrates how the PCK research agenda has developed and can make a difference to teachers’ practice and students’ learning of science.

This book comprises a wide range of scholarly essays introducing readers to key topics and issues in science education. Science education has become a well established field in its own right, with a vast literature, and many active areas of scholarship. Science Education: An International Course Companion offers an entry point for students seeking a sound but introductory understanding of the key perspectives and areas of thinking in science education. Each account is self-contained and offers a scholarly and research-informed introduction to a particular topic, theme, or perspective, with both citations to key literature and recommendations for more advanced reading. Science Education: An International Course Companion allows readers (such as those preparing for school science teaching, or seeking more advanced specialist qualifications) to obtain a broad familiarity with key issues across the field as well as guiding wider reading about particular topics of interest. The book therefore acts as a reader to support learning across courses in science education internationally. The broad coverage of topics is such that that the book will support students following a diverse range of courses and qualifications. The comprehensive nature of the book will allow course leaders and departments to nominate the book as the key reader to support students - their core 'course companion' in science education.

Science education has to be improved in order to become more responsive to the needs of society confronted with a rapidly changing world. Bringing science teaching up to a higher level is a key factor in this endeavour. The authors of this book think about teachers as part of the immediate and large communities and systems in which they function. They consider the development of teachers’ professional knowledge as a continuous process that depends on the communities they are committed to and participate in, the discipline they are teaching, the social context in which they perform, the instruments made available in their environment, and their day-to-day classroom experience. From this perspective, each teacher learns in an individual way, but cannot learn without relying on their colleagues and other partners. Such professional knowledge is partly tacit and explicit, and thus possessed by teachers, experts and researchers. Coordinating activity theory and models of pedagogical content knowledge (PCK), the book provides a better understanding of the growth of science teacher professional knowledge. The chapters are organised around shared perspectives and themes and based on research findings. The emerging model can inform pre-service teacher educators, researchers and students. The book results from exchanges and symposia during international conferences (ECER, ESERA) and from a two-day seminar held at Université Grenoble Alpes in March 2015.

Technological pedagogical content knowledge (TPCK) reflects a new direction in understanding the complex interactions among content, pedagogy, learners and technology that can result in successful integration of multiple technologies in teaching and learning. The purpose of this edited volume is to introduce TPCK as a conceptual framework for grounding research in the area of teachers’ cognitive understanding of the interactions of technology with content, pedagogy and learner conceptions. Accordingly, the contributions will constitute systematic research efforts that use TPCK to develop lines of educational technology research exemplifying current theoretical conceptions of TPCK and methodological and pedagogical approaches of how to develop and assess TPCK.