<p>  </p> <p>School-based agricultural education programs use laboratories to develop cognitive, psychomotor, and procedural skills (Phipps et al., 2008). It is important to help preservice teachers develop the ability to design instruction to cultivate skills that are taught in laboratory settings. Shulman (1986) authored a term called Pedagogical Content Knowledge (PCK), which is a teacher’s knowledge of teaching. Animal science dissection was the topic chosen for this study, as PCK is topic-specific (Chan & Hume, 2018). There are many interpretations of PCK. The Refined Consensus Model (RCM) of PCK in Science Education (Carlson et al., 2019) was the conceptual model used in this study, as it is the most recent PCK model, and was developed by experts in science education from multiple countries. This model asserts that PCK is comprised of three realms: Collective PCK (cPCK), Personal PCK (pPCK), and Enacted PCK (ePCK). The first purpose of this study was to describe preservice agriculture teachers' Professional Knowledge Bases (which informs pPCK), before and after instruction, on the topic of animal science dissection in a Laboratory Practices in Agricultural Education (LPAE) course. The second purpose was to describe preservice agriculture teachers' cPCK, after instruction, on animal science dissection in an LPAE course. Content Representations (CoRes), a common tool used for PCK research, were used identify evidence of the Professional Knowledge Bases (PKBs) in preservice agriculture teachers’ instructional planning. Results from this study showed elevated descriptions of Professional Knowledge Bases, and participants collectively gained new ideas and collaboration skills. Overall LPAE dissection experience appeared to push the depth of student thinking and ability to make connections with future learning. Future research recommendations include using the RCM of PCK (Carlson et al., 2019) and CoRes in agricultural education; more PCK research, specifically exploring the development of Curricular Knowledge, on preservice teachers in agricultural education; and PCK research on other topics in agricultural education. It is recommended to not only include PCK development in teacher preparation programs but also have more than one exposure to PCK development.</p>

Several misconceptions show up when learners answer questions on Chemical Equilibrium during examinations. Literature from other researchers shows similar trend of misconceptions (Johnstone, 2000; Morais, Paiva and Barros, 2007; Adesoji and Babatunde, 2008) for example, ‘apply pressure to the reactants’ (Johnstone, 2000). This shows that Chemistry has no meaning to these learners and they end up with misconceptions as they try to memorise facts in order to pass examinations. Learners are taught before writing these examinations, but how are they taught the concepts of Chemical Equilibrium? A descriptive approach was used on an exploratory survey conducted in Thohoyandou Cluster among Physical Science (Chemistry) FET band Educators. Cluster sampling of 40 educators from 18 randomly sampled schools responded to questionnaires. Five ‘well experienced’ educators who have been producing ‘good’ results at Grade 12 NSC examinations and two Physical Sciences subject advisors were interviewed. Using Spearman Brown Split-Half statistical method a 0,891 reliability coefficient was obtained. Research results show lack or under utilisation of laboratory equipment, teaching strategies which promote rote learning. Lack of confidence of educators due to deficiency in topic content knowledge and pedagogical skills which promote conceptual understanding were identified. Problem of English language leading to communication breakdown between educator-learners and between learner-subject leading to emergency of knowledge gaps in learners. Educators consider professional development through re-training and workshops on subject content matter and teaching strategies as the way forward to improve the quality of teaching. Topic specific PCK focusing on problem-solving strategy was recommended as a means to increasing educators’ efficiency in teaching and enhance learners’ comprehension and achievement in Physical Science. / Science and Technology Education / M. Sc. (Mathematics, Science and Technology Education (Chemistry Education))

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The study developed and designed a pedagogical content knowledge framework to guide and support the professional development of pedagogical content knowledge to about 130 statistics teachers. It captured the experiences of teachers during the development of pedagogical content knowledge, to come up with the main themes that describe pedagogical content knowledge as the relevant knowledge for teaching Grade 11 and 12 statistics. The study was overall qualitative in nature and supported by some quantitative data. Questionnaires, in-class facilitated tasks/activities, in-class facilitated discussions and observations were used as the main data collection instruments. This process revealed some significant themes, described as “missed opportunities”, which were defined as incidents in which pedagogical content knowledge was needed but not used. The thesis contributes to the theoretical and knowledge base of secondary school statistics teachers in the education system by providing measures that can be used to determine professional development needs of teachers. / Mathematics Education / D. Ed. (Mathematics Education)

A Five-pillar conceptual framework -good social environment, focused instruction, well-trained and regularly supervised teachers, family background and language of learning and teaching- is used in this dissertation as a theoretical construct through which to make sense of persistent learner performance disparities between former white and former black schools in the South African public education system. This is a largely qualitative research project which employs a case study approach within a study area comprised of four purposive sample schools. The study is exploratory in nature in that it seeks to investigate why former white schools continue to perform better than former black schools despite massive educational changes made since 1994. I argue in this dissertation that teaching and learning processes between former white and former black schools are still fraught with huge inequalities, hence learner performance disparities. In other words, despite the investment, inputs and strategies since 1994, the education system in historically black schools is not working largely because of issues of classroom practice. A multi-method approach for data collection purposes was used in this study: testing, interviews, observations, intensive literature review and documentary analysis. Learner focus groups, maths teachers, teacher union representatives and school principals formed the backbone of research respondents in this project. The results show immense and unrelenting prevalence of inequalities and variations between former white and former black schools in terms of almost all aspects of teaching and learning processes. The essence of the results is that for the South African education system to achieve equitable learner performance across all schools, it must first achieve equity in terms of teaching and learning processes and needs.

Det är allmänt accepterat att lärare bör använda sig av evolutionsteorin som ett sätt att binda ihop undervisningen i biologi. Åtskilliga studier har dock påvisat att flertalet elever har missuppfattningar och föreställningar inom evolution som motverkar deras inlärning av evolutionsteorin. Det samma gäller för begreppsförståelse och konflikten mellan betydelsen av ett ord i vardagsspråket och i ämnesspråket. Tidigare forskning har också kartlagt att biologilärare inte alltid är medvetna om elevers svårigheter eller utformar en evolutionsundervisning som utmanar elevers begreppsförståelse. Denna kvalitativa studie som genomfördes med hjälp av intervjuer med sex olika lärare visar på samma mönster och pekar på några möjliga lösningar för att förbättra elevers förståelse för de evolutionära mekanismerna.  Samtidigt som det finns en stor samstämmighet bland de intervjuade biologilärarna kring begreppsförståelse, precis som i många andra ämnen, resonerar de olika om vilka delar som är viktiga i evolutionsundervisningen och varför. En del fokuserar mer på att lära ut innehållet enligt den lärobok som används medan en del förklarar mer om varför eleverna ska lära sig om evolution.  Som ett resultat av denna studie föreslås bland annat att undervisningen om evolution borde inledas så tidigt som möjligt för att i största möjliga mån minimera risken för att olika missuppfattningar och föreställningar kring evolution inte ska cementeras tidigt. I detta sammanhang bör också information kring ämneskunskap förmedlas vid överlämningarna från ett stadium till ett annat i grundskolan. Vidare föreslås att användandet av CoRe-verktyget implementeras i planeringen av undervisningen och att det införs som ett moment under VFU- arbetet för blivande ämneslärare. Det faktum att tid är en bristvara för lärare innebär att det sällan finns tid för egen reflektion. Därför måste arbetet med CoRe-verktyget schemaläggas på samma sätt som många skolor idag arbetar med kooperativt lärande.

Although the Technological Pedagogical Content Knowledge (TPACK) framework has shown a lot of promise as a theoretical perspective, researchers find it difficult to use it in particular environments because the requirements of the framework change in specific contexts. The purpose of this study was to explore and produce more flexible ways of using the TPACK for inservice mathematics secondary teachers. Three such teachers at an urban public school were observed in their classrooms and interviewed about their experiences of teaching mathematics and integrating computer technology in their day-to-day activities. Each participant had over 10 years experience in teaching mathematics in secondary schools in Ontario, and expertise in using computers in mathematics curriculum. The research questions were: 1) How do secondary school mathematics teachers describe their ways of integrating technology? 2) What difficulties do teachers have when they try to integrate technology into mathematics classrooms? The findings from the first research question show that teachers displayed a high degree of integration of technology. Their activities were very clearly designed, conferring clear roles to the use of integrating computer technology in mathematics classes. Teachers had specific approaches to integrate computer technology: a) to allow students opportunities to learn and experiment with their mathematical knowledge; b) to help them pass the content to the students in the process of teaching mathematics; and c) to assess and evaluate students’ work, and give them feedback. The findings from the second research question reveal that teachers had difficulties in purchasing and maintaining the computer equipment. They had some difficulties in trying to integrate new technologies as these required time, preparation, and dedication. In addition, teachers had some difficulties in making students use computers in a significant way. The implication for teacher education is that inservice teachers should have opportunities to update their computer and pedagogical skills, a long term perspective in integrating technology in mathematics education, and professional and technical support from teaching colleagues and administrators. Finally, the integration of computer technology in mathematics requires more intensive teamwork and collaboration between teachers, technical support staff, and administrators.

This thesis presents an investigation into the pedagogical content knowing (PCKg) of Dutch experienced specialist preschool music teachers with regard to teaching and learning rhythm skills viewed from an embodied cognition perspective. An embodied cognition perspective stresses the intimate relationship between body, mind and environment. In a multiple case study the research methods - stimulated recall interviews, gesture analysis tasks, physical action analysis tasks, notebooks and semi-structured interviews - were used to elicit the PCKg of six specialist preschool music teachers regarding rhythm skills. The data of these different methods were inductively analysed but sensitising concepts derived from the literature review on PCKg were also used in the analysis. Furthermore, the data were triangulated to gain a comprehensive understanding of the participants' PCKg. As for the nature of the specialist preschool music teachers' PCKg regarding rhythm skills the findings illustrated that PCKg is distributed over language, sound, gestures, body positioning and physical actions. Respecting the content of PCKg a new form of (non-verbal) knowledge was explored: 'musical communication and musical interaction' that facilitates the learning of rhythm skills of preschoolers. The study is first of all significant for offering a new perspective on the nature of the specialist preschool music teachers' PCKg: a multimodal and dynamic way of knowing that emerges from the interrelated role between the social, cultural and physical classroom environment, the teaching task and the teacher's body. Beyond the classroom, these teachers' bodies form a source for recalling, re-enacting and eliciting classroom experiences to develop and communicate their PCKg. Secondly, it offers a new perspective on the content of the specialist preschool music teachers' PCKg: these teachers' bodies take on different roles to mediate the preschoolers' learning process regarding rhythm skills. These findings have implications for further research, teacher education, practice and policy.

The process of ‘learning to teach’ is still not well understood. In particular, existing research does not fully reflect the complexities of the process; how student teachers’ level of subject matter knowledge influences their teaching, or how their placement affects the process. This study provides an alternative nonlinear, relational model for understanding the process of ‘learning to teach’. I study the ways in which 66 BEd students teach during eight school-based Teaching Experience sessions, conducted over the four year duration of their preservice teaching degree. I primarily draw on evidence obtained from lesson observation reports written by university tutors as they respond to lessons taught by this cohort of student teachers. I cluster their comments into five facets necessary for enabling learning, namely, student teachers’ knowledge and understanding of content; their preparation; their teaching strategies; their classroom management; and the ways in which they monitor learning. These five facets have links to the process of teaching described by Shulman’s (1987b) Model of Pedagogical Reasoning and Action. Within each of these five facets, varying levels of competence were demonstrated by the student teachers in this study. I develop an analytical tool that describes four developmental levels of student teaching over each of the five facets of the teaching process. An in-depth study of the developmental teaching portraits of five student teachers illustrates that they are often more advanced in some facets of their teaching, and less so in others. The portraits highlight the ways in which certain facets affect teaching in other facets. The interactions between these differing levels and facets give rise to particular challenges that student teachers experience as they ‘learn to teach’. Some of these challenges are more significant than others, as certain inter-facet relationships are essential to the development of pedagogically reasoned action, and other relationships are less crucial. My findings suggest that although ‘learning to teach’ is a non-linear process, there nevertheless exists a logical hierarchy within the facets, whereby some facets create conditions of possibility for others. In particular, I find that the way in which student teachers use their knowledge and understanding of the content to inform other facets, establishes the 2 logical conditions necessary for the development of teaching as pedagogically reasoned action.

Nas últimas décadas, o desenvolvimento da criatividade vem sendo debatido e tratado como característica fundamental aos indivíduos que se encontram no mercado de trabalho. No caso da carreira docente, tal fato não se mostra diferente, sendo recorrentes os pedidos de professores com uma ampla capacidade de criar novas e inovadoras intervenções didáticas frente ao caráter imprevisível do cotidiano escolar. Desse modo, o presente trabalho busca compreender como se dá o processo de criação de novos conhecimentos pedagógicos de conteúdo por parte de futuros professores de Física, elencando elementos importantes necessários a essa ação, bem como às interrelações entre os mesmos. Para tanto, em um primeiro momento, alicerçamos nossa pesquisa no campo da formação de professores, mais precisamente, a forma como estes elaboram seus Conhecimentos Pedagógicos de Conteúdo. Em uma segunda etapa, tratamos o ato criativo como uma complexa rede de elementos pertencentes, tanto aos esquemas cognitivos internos do futuro docente, como específicos do meio social e cultural onde a docência se realiza. Dessa forma, para abarcar esse dois contextos mais amplos da criação humana, utilizamos elementos das psicologias piagetiana e vigotskiana, respectivamente. Esses últimos referenciais teóricos, em nossa visão, organizados como complementares na elaboração de um novo referencial para o estudo específico da criatividade docente. A pesquisa de campo, de natureza qualitativa, acompanhou dois grupos de licenciandos em Física que cursavam a disciplina Metodologia do Ensino de Física II e que realizavam o processo de estágio em escolas da educação básica em um caráter supervisionado e investigativo. Dessa forma, os dados utilizados nesse trabalho foram obtidos através dos relatos dos próprios licenciandos, quando de sua participação nas reuniões semanais de supervisão, nas entrevistas finais, durante as aulas da disciplina, bem como nos registros contidos em seus portfólios. Os resultados obtidos nos demonstraram que os licenciandos, em situações de docência, são submetidos a perturbações de diferentes naturezas, de acordo com o contexto onde estes se encontravam. A superação de tais perturbações mostrou-se extremamente dependente dos elementos culturais e sociais a que estavam expostos os futuros docentes, bem como dependentes de seus repertórios anteriores e experiências vividas. Os possíveis trajetos realizados pelos estagiários nesses contextos foram denominados Caminhos Criativos, trajetos estes compostos pela perturbação geradora, a conduta adotada pelos futuros professores para sua solução, bem como as necessidades docentes surgidas no percurso, culminando com a elaboração de novos Conhecimentos Pedagógicos de Conteúdo, onde se verificou alterações na forma como tais estagiários relacionavam as dimensões do contexto, pedagógicas e do conteúdo em suas novas intervenções didáticas. O trabalho em tela, portanto, busca expor um conjunto de processos necessários às elaborações criativas dos futuros professores e suas interrelações na dinâmica do desenvolvimento de novos Conhecimentos Pedagógicos de Conteúdo, buscando dessa forma, contribuir com novos elementos que busquem, na formação docente em Física, um profissional capaz de atuar em patamares crítico-reflexivos, com capacidade e autonomia de elaborações e reelaborações de seus esquemas mentais, frente aos constantes imprevistos que permeiam o ambiente profissional do magistério. / In recent decades, the development of creativity has been discussed and treated as a fundamental characteristic to individuals who are in the labor market. In the case of the teaching as a profession, this fact does not seem different, being recurrent the requests of teachers with a broad ability to create new and innovative didactic interventions due to the unpredictable character of the school routine. Thus, this study seeks to understand how the process of creation of new pedagogical content knowledge by future physics teachers, listing important elements necessary for this action, as well as the interrelationships among them. Therefore, at first, we build our research in the field of teacher training, more precisely, how they prepare their Pedagogical Content Knowledge. In a second step, we treat the creative act as a complex network of elements belonging to both internal cognitive schemata of future teachers as specific social and cultural environment in which teaching takes place. Thus, to encompass these two broader contexts of human creation, use elements of the psychologies of Piaget and Vygotsky, respectively. These recent theoretical, in our view, arranged as complementary in the development of a new framework for the study of specific teaching creativity. The field research was qualitative, followed two groups of undergraduates in physics who attended the course \"Methodology of Teaching Physics II\" and who took the internship process in basic education schools in a supervised and investigative character. Thus, the data used in this work were obtained from the reports of their own undergraduates, when he participated in weekly supervision meetings, the final interviews during the lessons of discipline, as well as the records contained in their portfolios. The obtained results showed that the licensees in situations teaching are subjected to disturbances of different natures, according to the context in which they are found. Overcoming such disturbances was extremely dependent on the cultural and social elements that were exposed to future teachers as well as dependents of their repertoires and previous experiences. The possible paths made by the trainees in these contexts were called Creative Paths, paths these compounds by the disturbance generator, the procedure adopted by future teachers for their solution, as well as the needs arising in the course teachers, culminating in the development of new Pedagogical Content Knowledge, where there has been changes in the way such trainees related dimensions of context, pedagogical and content in their new didactic interventions The screen work therefore seeks to expose a set of process needed for creative elaboration of future teachers and their interrelationships in the dynamics of development of new Pedagogical Content Knowledge , seeking, thereby, to contribute with new elements that seek , in teacher training in Physics , a professional capable of operating at levels critical- reflective capacity and autonomy of elaborations and reworkings of their mental schemas , facing the constant unforeseen that permeate the working environment of teachers.