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Is Pedagogical Content Knowledge (PCK) Necessary for Reformed Science Teaching?: Evidence from an Empirical Study

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Abstract

This study tested a hypothesis that focused on whether or not teachers’ pedagogical content knowledge (PCK) is a necessary body of knowledge for reformed science teaching. This study utilized a quantitative research method to investigate the correlation between a teacher’s PCK level as measured by the PCK rubric (Park et al. 2008) and the degree to which his/her classroom is reform-oriented as measured by RTOP (Sawada et al. 2002). Data included 33 instructional sessions of photosynthesis and heredity videotaped with 7 high school biology teachers. Each session was given a score on both the PCK rubric and RTOP by two independent raters. Results indicate that PCK score is significantly related to RTOP score in terms of both total score (r = .831, p < .01) and sub-component scores (ranging from r = .616 to .805, p < .01). Implications for science teacher education and future research are discussed.

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Acknowledgement

This research was funded by the Iowa Measurement Research Fund at the University of Iowa. However, the contents of this paper are purely those of the authors, and do not reflect the views of the funder.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Teaching & Learning, University of Iowa, Iowa City, IA, 52242, USA

    Soonhye Park, Jeong-Yoon Jang & Ying-Chih Chen

  2. Department of Kinesiology & Physical Education, Northern Illinois University, DeKalb, Il, 60115, USA

    Jinhong Jung

Authors
  1. Soonhye Park
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  2. Jeong-Yoon Jang
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  3. Ying-Chih Chen
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  4. Jinhong Jung
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Soonhye Park.

Appendices

Appendix A

Table 3 PCK Rubric (Park et al. 2008)
Full size table

Appendix B

Interview Questions

Background Questions

  1. 1.

    Could you tell me about your background in science and science teaching?

  2. 2.

    What do you see as your teaching strengths?

  3. 3.

    What areas do you feel are relatively weak in your teaching?

  4. 4.

    In what ways would you define science teaching?

  5. 5.

    How do you think students learn science? When your students learn science best?

Misconception Questions & Teaching Strategies (General)

  1. 1

    What concepts in (a topic) do you believe are the most important for your students to understand by the end of the instruction of this topic? Why?

  2. 2

    Reflecting on your experience of teaching this topic (photosynthesis or heredity), what kinds of student misconceptions associated with this unit have you noticed?

  3. 3

    How do you challenge the misconceptions?

  4. 4

    How do you know when your students have misconceptions?/ What strategies do you use to understand students’ understanding in this topic?

  5. 5

    How do you know when your students understand a concept?

  6. 6

    What do you usually consider when you plan a lesson? (students’ prior knowledge of the topic, learning difficulties with specific science concepts, etc.)

Interview Questions in Combination with Observation

Before Observation

  1. 1

    Could you briefly describe today’s lesson?

  2. 2

    What subject matters or concepts do you expect students would have difficulties with today? Why do you think so?

  3. 3

    What kinds of students’ misconceptions associated with this lesson have you noticed? How would you help them correct the misconceptions?

  4. 4

    What kinds of things do you take into consideration in planning this lesson?

  5. 5

    How will you be able to know whether your students understand the concepts you try to teach today? What evidence are you looking for that students have been successful in addressing the goals for the lessons?

After Observation

  1. 1.

    How do you feel about the lesson today?

  2. 2.

    What do you consider the most effective teaching moment was in the lesson?

  3. 3.

    Why? How did you achieve it? Why did it work? What signaled you that students were learning?

  4. 4.

    Were there any student misconceptions you identified during the class that you haven’t known? If yes, how did you respond to challenge the misconceptions? Did it work? Why do you think it worked?

  5. 5.

    Did you make any changes in the class that I just observed differently from the other class periods or lesson plan? Why?

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Park, S., Jang, JY., Chen, YC. et al. Is Pedagogical Content Knowledge (PCK) Necessary for Reformed Science Teaching?: Evidence from an Empirical Study. Res Sci Educ 41, 245–260 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11165-009-9163-8

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