Pre Service Science Teachers’ Perceptions Related to Their Pedagogical Knowledge

Author(s):

Fulden Guler (presenting / submitting) Meral Aksu

Conference:

ECER 2016

Network:

10. Teacher Education Research

Format:

Paper

Session Information

10 SES 01 B, Student Teachers Voices and Perceptions

Paper Session

Time:

2016-08-23

13:15-14:45

Room:

NM-Theatre N

Chair:

ML White

Contribution

The purpose of the present study was to investigate the pre service science teachers’ perceptions related to science teaching. In line with the purpose, participants’ perceptions related to their pedagogical knowledge (PK) was examined. Furthermore, it was aimed to investigate whether pre service science teachers' perceptions related to PK differ or not in terms of gender and level of achievement.

Research Questions:

1. What are pre service science teachers’ perceptions related to their pedagogical knowledge?

2. Do pre service science teachers’ perceptions related to their pedagogical knowledge and its dimensions (learners and learning, lesson planning, classroom management and assessment) differ in terms of gender?

3. Do pre service science teachers’ perceptions related to their pedagogical knowledge and its dimensions (learners and learning, lesson planning, classroom management and assessment) differ in terms of level of achievement?

In the literature, studies related with teacher knowledge mostly focused on pedagogical content knowledge and subject matter knowledge and pedagogical knowledge (PK) was given less importance (König, 2013; König, Blömeke, Paine, Schmidt & Hsieh, 2011; OECD, 2014; Voss, Kunter & Baumert, 2011). Moreover, PK studies are mostly carried out with pre service mathematics teachers in the international context (Blömeke, Paine, Houang, Hsieh, Schmidt, Tatto, Bankov, Cedilllo, Cogan, Han, Santillan & Schwille, 2008; Voss, Kunter & Baumert, 2011). Similarly, there is a scarcity of research that examines PK of pre service science teachers in Turkey. Literature calls more research examining PK of pre service teachers in different subject areas (Choy, Lim, Chong, Wong, 2012; Voss, Kunter & Anders, 2010). Therefore, the results of the study are expected to provide significant information in terms of presenting Turkish pre service science teachers’ perceptions regarding PK. Additionally, Turkish pre service perceptions related to their PK might be used for making comparison with European pre service science teachers. The comparison might provide feedback in determining in what areas of pre service science teachers feel experiencing problems regarding PK both in Turkey and in European context. Hence, findings could be used in revising the courses in science teacher education programs.

In order to investigate pre service science teachers’ perceptions regarding their PK, a teacher knowledge model suggested by Abell (2007) which was based on Grossman (1990) and Magnuson, Krajcik and Borko (1999) models was used as a framework in the present study. It included four main components as follows: subject matter knowledge, pedagogical knowledge, pedagogical content knowledge and knowledge of context. In the present study, the main focus was on the PK part of the model.

Shulman defined general pedagogical knowledge (PK) as "broad principles and strategies of classroom management and organization that appear to transcend subject matter" (1987, p. 8). In a similar way, Lederman and Gess-Newsome defines pedagogical knowledge (PK) as "teacher's knowledge of general pedagogy such as classroom management, questioning, planning, and so forth" (1992, p.16). According to Abell (2007) knowledge of instructional principals, classroom management, learners and learning and educational aims were included in the category of PK. Moreover, Koehler, Mishra and Cain (2013) stated that PK concerns with knowledge about teaching and learning process; hence it contains lesson planning, classroom management, different instructional and assessment methods and individual properties of learners. In the present study, four components were covered under the category of PK: learners and learning, classroom management, assessment and lesson planning which were parallel with studies related to PK in the literature (König, Blömeke, Paine, Schmidt, Hesieh, 2011; Voss, Kunter, & Baumert, 2011)

Method

Survey design was used in the current study. The first reason for choosing survey design is surveys aim to get information from sample and identify the certain characteristics of population. Moreover, in surveys, data is collected by asking questions to the participants. Lastly, information from the sample is used to make inferences about the population (Fraenkel & Wallen, 2006). In the present study, a questionnaire was used for collecting data to describe perceptions of pre service science teachers’ related to their PK. Target population of the present study is all senior science teacher candidates currently enrolled in the elementary science education departments of the faculties of education in Turkey. Since it is not possible to administer the survey every member of target population, accessible population is identified. The accessible population is all the 4th year students attending the state universities having elementary science education departments in Ankara, so the study was conducted on the accessible population. The reason for choosing fourth year students was that they were about to complete method and pedagogical courses. As there are three state universities having elementary science education departments in Ankara, data were collected from all these three universities. 176 participants were involved in the present study. Perceptions of Knowledge and Skills in Teaching (PKST) developed by Choy, Lim, Chong and Wong (2012) was utilized for data collection. Participant rated their perceptions regarding PK on a 5 point Likert scale and the scale ranging from "no knowledge at all" to "complete knowledge". The instrument was translated into Turkish by an expert from school of foreign language and by a bilingual translator who is speaking fluently English and Spanish. Then, two experts from the department of educational sciences and two teachers, one of them is science teacher and one of them is Turkish teacher, reviewed the instrument and final form of the instrument was formed. It was administered to 193 pre service teachers in the pilot study. For reliability, the Cronbach Alfa was found as .94 in the pilot study. The data obtained through instruments were analyzed using SPSS 20. Descriptive statistics was used in order to describe the basic characteristic of the data. Independent samples t test and one-way ANOVA were conducted to reach the conclusions

Expected Outcomes

The results showed that a majority of pre service teachers perceived their PK as adequate. When the dimensions of PK were examined, findings indicated that participants’ perceptions in relation to assessment was the highest and classroom management was the lowest among PK dimensions. Moreover, participants perceptions were not differed in terms of gender and level of achievement.The current study pointed out that pre service science teachers need to develop their knowledge of classroom management especially in terms of managing students with behavioral and learning problems, using time effectively, having coping skills and managing discipline and stress in the classroom. Classroom management courses in faculties of education might be reviewed and in addition to delivering theoretical knowledge, participants should have the opportunity to practice what they learned as a part of the course requirement. Therefore, teacher education programs should provide more practical experiences for pre service science teachers and more importance should be attached to mentoring of students in their practical courses in real classrooms in Turkey. Practice teaching courses in science education programs could be rearranged based on the findings of the present study. Furthermore, for mentor teachers in practice courses, training programs might be designed since they are the role models for pre service science teachers. PK has been rarely studied in Turkish context. Therefore, studies elaborating pre service science teachers’ perceptions regarding PK also needed in the future. Additionally, the study might be conducted with in service teachers as well as pre service teachers from different departments for making comparison related to their perceptions of PK both in Turkey and in European context.

References

Abell, S. K. (2007). Research on science teacher knowledge. In S. K. Abell, & N. G. Lederman (Eds), Handbook of Research on Science Education. (pp.1105- 1151). New Jersey: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates. Blömeke, S., Paine, L., Houang, R. T., Hsieh, F. J., Schmidt, W. H., Tatto, M. T., Banko, K., Cedillo, T., Cogan, L., Han, S., Santillan, M.,& Schwille, J. (2008). Future teachers‘ competence to plan a lesson: first results of a six-country study on the efficiency of teacher education. ZDM Mathematics Education, 40(5), 749-762. Choy, D., Lim, K. M., Chong, S., & Wong, A. F. (2012). A confirmatory factor analytic approach on perceptions of knowledge and skills in teaching (PKST). Psychological Reports, 110(2), 589-597. Choy, D., Wong, A. F., Lim, K. M., & Chong, S. (2013). Beginning teachers' perceptions of their pedagogical knowledge and skills in teaching: A three year study. Australian Journal of Teacher Education, 38(5), 67-79. Fraenkel, J. R., & Wallen, N. E. (2006). How to design and evaluate research in education (6th ed.). New York: Mc Graw-Hill Companies. Guerriero, S. (2012). Teachers’ Pedagogical Knowledge and the Teaching Profession Background Report and Project Objectives. OECD. Koehler, M. J., Mishra, P., & Cain, W. (2013). What is technological pedagogical content knowledge (TPACK)? Journal of Education, 193 (3), 13-19. König, J. (2013). First comes the theory, then the practice? On the acquisition of general pedagogical knowledge during initial teacher education. International Journal of Science and Mathematics Education, 11(4), 999-1028. König, J., Blömeke, S., Paine, L., Schmidt, W. H., Hsieh, F. J (2011). General pedagogical knowledge of future middle school teachers: On the complex ecology of teacher education in United States, Germany and Taiwan. Journal of Teacher Education, 62(2), 188-201. Lederman, N.G. & Gess-Newsome, J. (1992). Do subject matter knowledge, pedagogical knowledge, and pedagogical content knowledge constitute the ideal gas law of science teaching? Journal of Science Teacher Education, 3(1), 16-20. OECD (2014). Background document: designing an international instrument to assess teachers’ general pedagogical knowledge (GPK): review of studies, considerations, and recommendations - draft report. Retrieved from http://www.oecd.org/officialdocuments/publicdisplaydocumentpdf/?cote=EDU/CERI/CD/RD(2014)3&docLanguage=En Shulman, L. S. (1986). Those who understand: Knowledge growth in teaching, Educational Researcher, 15, 4-14. Shulman, L. S. (1987). Knowledge and training: Foundations of the new reform. Harvard Educational Review, 57, 1-22. Voss, T., Kunter, M., & Baumert, J. (2011). Assessing teacher candidates' general pedagogical/psychological knowledge: Test construction and validation. Journal of Educational Psychology, 103(4), 952.

Author Information

Fulden Guler (presenting / submitting)

Ege University

Elementary Science Education

İzmir

Meral Aksu

Middle East Technical University, Turkey

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