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Teacher- or Learner-Centred? Science Teacher Beliefs Related to Topic Specific Pedagogical Content Knowledge: A South African Case Study

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Abstract

In science education, learner-centred classroom practices are widely accepted as desirable and are associated with responsive and reformed kinds of teacher beliefs. They are further associated with high-quality Pedagogical Content Knowledge (PCK). Topic-Specific Pedagogical Content Knowledge (TSPCK), a version of PCK defined at topic level, is known to enable the transformation of topic content into a form accessible to learners. However, little is known about teacher science beliefs in relation to TSPCK and therefore the nature of likely associated classroom practices. In this study, we investigated the relationship between TSPCK and underlying science teacher beliefs following an intervention targeting the improvement of TSPCK in the topic chemical equilibrium. Sixteen final year pre-service chemistry teachers were exposed to an intervention that explicitly focussed on knowledge for transforming the content of chemical equilibrium using the five knowledge components of TSPCK. A specially designed TSPCK instrument in chemical equilibrium and the Teacher Belief Instrument (TBI) were used to capture written responses in pre- and post-tests. Additional qualitative data was collected from audio-recorded discussions and written responses from an open-ended question asked before and after the intervention. Two key findings emerged from the study. Firstly, the development of TSPCK was linked to shifts in underlying science teacher beliefs in the direction of learner-centred teaching for the majority of pre-service teachers. Secondly, this shift was not evident for all, as for some there was development of TSPCK without a shift from teacher-centred beliefs about science teaching.

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Notes

  1. The CoRe was used without the associated PaP-eR because the focus was on capturing and portraying evidence of a developing TSPCK during the intervention rather than reflections which would be appropriately captured through the PaP-eR.

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Acknowledgement

This project was kindly financially supported by the Sasol Inzalo Fund and the Marang Centre.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Marang Centre for Maths and Science Education, School of Education, University of the Witwatersrand, 27 St Andrew Road, Parktown, Johannesburg, 2001, South Africa

    Elizabeth Mavhunga & Marissa Rollnick

Authors
  1. Elizabeth Mavhunga
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  2. Marissa Rollnick
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Correspondence to Elizabeth Mavhunga.

Appendix 1

Appendix 1

Table 6 The adapted CoRe
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Appendix 2

Table 7 Teacher belief instrument: summative raw scores of teacher science beliefs
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Mavhunga, E., Rollnick, M. Teacher- or Learner-Centred? Science Teacher Beliefs Related to Topic Specific Pedagogical Content Knowledge: A South African Case Study. Res Sci Educ 46, 831–855 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11165-015-9483-9

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