Examining pre-service non-experienced secondary science teachers' pedagogical content knowledge

النوع : Mémoire

The purpose of this research was to examine the pedagogical content knowledge (PCK) of preservice non-experienced secondary science teachers. Four teachers were involved in the study, all of whom were finishing their teacher education program at the American university of Beirut. A qualitative approach was used for this research that allowed for the generation of rich descriptions of teachers' PCK. Three instruments were used for data generation: (1) a unit plan followed by a semi-structured interview, (2) a peer 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 was utilized that consisted of six dimensions and coding scheme was derived from it that contained descriptors for each dimension. Data analysis was carried out along two levels: first, all data sources were coded and, for every teacher, a profile was generated that described their proficiency levels along each PCK dimension. These profiles contained descriptions of teachers' PCK in planning, their PCK in action, and their PCK in reflection. At the second level of analysis, data bits were utilized each consisting of three parts: (1) the main idea, (2) how it was applied, and (3) how it was reflected upon. These data bits were scored and profiles were generated for each teacher. Findings revealed that non-experienced secondary science teachers' PCK profiles varied along a continuum ranging from poor to proficient PCK profiles. Additionally, student teachers' were found to have moderate knowledge of their students. The study also revealed that teachers demonstrated consistently the same level of proficiency across the domains 'knowledge of topic specific instructional strategies', 'knowledge of orientations to teach science', and 'knowledge of assessment'; it was reasoned that this finding indicated some kind of interaction between these domains. Moreover, comparisons between different teachers' profiles showed that student teachers' PCK proficiency while planning affected their proficiency level while reflecting on their teaching and planning while on the other hand, teachers' actual teaching did not influence their ability to reflect on their teaching. The findings were interpreted by appealing to theories on learning and transfer. Implications for research, for teacher education programs and for teacher educators were discussed in light of these findings.