The pedagogical content knowledge of pollution held by secondary chemistry teachers in Lebanon

النوع : Mémoire

In teacher education, it is vital to evaluate the conceptions held by pre-service teachers. If they have misconceptions, it is likely they will pass the inaccurate content on to their future students. The result of persistent wrong conceptions about scientific phenomena is an ill-informed citizenry and a reduced probability of suitable preventive actions by these citizens against future environmental issues such as pollution, the greenhouse effect in specific. Consequently, it is important to investigate teachers’ preparedness to help students develop correct conceptions about environmental issues. One of the best measures to gauge this preparedness is to investigate teachers’ pedagogical content knowledge (Shulman, 1986). Consequently, the purpose of this study is to examine the pedagogical content knowledge (PCK) of in-service experienced and not-experienced Grade 9 Chemistry teachers on the topic of pollution. The study also aims to relate the teachers’ PCK to their level of education and years of teaching experience. The qualitative research approach used in this study allowed for the generation of rich descriptions of six chemistry teachers' PCK. Half of these teachers have six or more years of experience and the second half have less than six years of experience in teaching pollution. Three instruments were used for data generation: (1) a unit plan followed by a semi-structured interview, (2) a videotaped teaching lesson followed by a guided case analysis and a semi-structured interview and (3) a CoRe matrix followed by a semi-structured interview. A framework for defining PCK that consists of six dimensions and research findings were used to build a rubric, specific to teaching the PCK of greenhouse effect and global warming, and a coding scheme derived from it that contains descriptors for each dimension was used in data analysis. Data were coded based on a rubric described above. A frequency count was calculated for every form of knowledge (PCK in planning, PCK in action and PCK in reflection) for every teacher. This frequency count described their proficiency levels along each PCK dimension. In addition, for each level of performance, a score was calculated so that the overall PCK score of performance, for all dimensions, can be generated for each teacher. Findings revealed that teachers’ PCK profiles varied along a continuum ranging from poor to moderate PCK of the greenhouse effect and its consequences. Experience and completing a teaching diploma influenced the PCK score positively but none of the teachers achieved a proficient PCK score. The study also revealed that all teachers were found to have moderate PCK score in the knowledge of the content and in the knowledge of orientations. However, all teachers showed a similar poor PCK score across the domains of ‘knowledge about the curriculum’, ‘knowledge of assessment’, ‘knowledge of the student’s learning’ and ‘knowledge of instructional strategies’. Moreover, all teachers showed a moderate PCK score in planning, action and reflection but scored the highest in their PCK in planning and lowest in their PCK in reflecting. It seems that the school learning environment might not offer enough opportunities for teachers to reflect about their various PCK dimensions following instruction such as providing them the opportunity to participate in teacher development programs that helps them to deliver environmental issues efficiently in class. In addition, teacher education programs do not seem to prepare teachers to integrate all PCK dimensions when teaching any topic. Moreover, the high stake exams at the grade 9 level deprives teachers from the opportunity to work on their various PCK dimensions because teachers are required to prepare students for the exams. Implications for research, for teacher education programs and for teacher development programs were discussed in light of these findings.