Session Information
10 SES 06 C, Research on Professional Knowledge and Identity in Teacher Education
Paper Session
Contribution
Shulman (1987, p.8) in his pioneering work entitled “Knowledge and teaching: foundations of the new reform’’ categorized teacher knowledge base as content knowledge, general pedagogical knowledge, curriculum knowledge, pedagogical content knowledge (PCK), knowledge of learners and their characteristics, knowledge of educational contexts, as well as knowledge of educational ends, purposes and values, and their philosophical and historical grounds. According to Shulman, PCK “identifies the distinctive body of knowledge for teaching and represents the blending of content and pedagogy into an understanding of how particular topics, problems, or issues are organized, presented for instruction”. Grossman (1990) conceptualized PCK as having four components, namely subject matter knowledge, knowledge of students’ conceptions and difficulties; knowledge of curriculum; and knowledge of instructional strategies. Magnusson et al. (1999) defined PCK as constituting of five components which are orientations toward science teaching, knowledge of science curriculum, knowledge of science instructional strategies, knowledge of student science understandings, knowledge of science assessment (Abell, 2007). As pedagogical content knowledge develops with respect to specific content knowledge, studies started to focus on examining pedagogical content knowledge with regard to specific science concepts (Cohen & Yarden, 2009; Käpylä, Heikkinen & Asunta, 2008).
In order to gain an understanding about pre-science teachers’ pedagogical content knowledge with reference to a specific subject matter, in this study, “evolution” is chosen. . Since evolutionary theory has long been regarded as the most important and unifying theory in biology and serves as an explanation of similarities among organisms, biological diversity and many characteristics of the physical world which are among the most basic characteristics of the world (National Academy of Sciences 1998), it is included as a fundamental concept in the current national elementary science curriculum in Turkey. Asghar, Wiles and Alters (2007) claimed that although evolution may be to basic science literacy, it is ignored in science curricula especially at the elementary school level. Hence, evolution is not only one of the important interdisciplinary subject matter in science but also an important contemporary global discipline which should be comprehended by students with scientific explanations. However, studies showed that not only students but also preservice as well as in-service science teachers hold several misconceptions about evolution (Asghar et al., 2007; Deniz, Donelly, & Yilmaz 2008; Nehm & Schonfeld 2007). It is clear that teachers with misconceptions about evolution are not likely to be developing scientifically accurate concepts in their students. Moreover, teachers’ subject matter knowledge has a strong influence on their curricular and instructional decisions (e.g.Hashweh 1987; Shulman 1986). By considering the important role that future science teachers play for effective science learning, the present study attempted to explore the following research questions:
1. What PCK do pre-service science teachers have regarding the teaching of evolution?
2. What concerns do pre-service science teachers have regarding the teaching of evolution?
Method
Expected Outcomes
References
Abell, S. K. (2007). Research on science teacher knowledge. Handbook of research on science education. Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates. Asghar, A., Wiles, J., & Alters, B. (2007). Discovering international perspectives on biological evolution across religions and cultures. International Journal of Diversity in Organizations, Communities, and Nations, 6, 81–88. Deniz, H., Donnelly, L., & Yilmaz, I. (2008). Exploring the factors related to acceptance of evolutionary theory among Turkish preservice biology teachers: Toward a more informative conceptual ecology for biological evolution. Journal of Research in Science Teaching, 45, 420-443. Cohen, R. & Yarden, A. (2009). Experienced junior-high-school teachers’ PCK in light of a curriculum change: “The cell is to be studied longitudinally”. Research in Science Education, 39,131-155. Grossman, P. L. (1990). The making of a teacher: Teacher knowledge and teacher education. New York: Teacher College Press. Hashweh, M. Z. (1987). Effects of subject-matter knowledge in the teaching of biology and physics. Teaching and Teacher Education, 3, 109-120. Kapyla, M., Heikkinen, J.-P. & Asunta, T. (2009). Influence of content knowledge on pedagogical content knowledge: The case of teaching photosynthesis and plant growth. International Journal of Science Education, 3, 1395-1415. Magnusson, S., Krajcik, J., & Borko, H. (1999). Secondary teachers’ knowledge and beliefs about subject matter and their impact on instruction In J. Gess-Newsome & N. G. Lederman (Eds.), Examining pedagogical content knowledge (pp 95-132). Dordrecht, The Netherlands: Kluwer. Nehm, R. H. & Schonfeld, I. R. (2007). Does increasing biology teacher knowledge of evolution and the nature of science lead to greater preference for the teaching of evolution in schools? Journal of Science Teacher Education, 18, 699-723 Shulman, L. S. (1986). Those who understand: Knowledge growth in teaching. Educational Researcher, 15, 4-14. Shulman, L. S. (1987). Knowledge and teaching: Foundations of the new reform. Harvard Educational Review, 57, 1–22.
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