Research has shown that the Swedish results of education have fallen continuously since 2000. It has been shown that there are differences in performance between native students and immigrant students. National Centre for “Swedish as a second language” indicates that Swedish schools fail to give all students an equal and high quality education. Then Swedish as a second language education can be organized in two different ways a wonder arise if it can depend on how teachers´ conditions in teaching reveals in these. This study aims to lighten primary school teachers' views on the opportunities and difficulties in second language teaching, which can be organized in two different ways, "separate" and "within the framework of the class". The research questions of the study are, 1) What requirements do teachers perceive that the curriculum for “Swedish as a second language” requires? What opportunities and difficulties can be seen here? 2) What trade-offs are made in the planning of teaching and how are these applied in the teaching of “Swedish as a second language”? What opportunities and difficulties can be seen here? 3) What conditions for scaffolding and interaction do teachers create in teaching "Swedish as a second language? What opportunities and difficulties can be seen here? By using Shulmans theory PCK (Pedagogical Content Knowledge) it manages to visualize teacher language didactic choices within the subject “Swedish as a second language”. Through a qualitative study based on interviews and observations, the result shows that both teachers reason about a range of language didactic choices, opportunities and solutions, but these could not always be transformed and seen in practice. During the observations, it became clear that the “Swedish as a second language” teaching structural conditions both enabling and impeding teachers to conduct effective teaching. In this case, separate teaching came to be ineffective because they did not have a language development perspectives in school, thereby the subject was stigmatized.

This research has as its primary goal find out through the teachers’ point of view how subject and digital competence can be achieved in social science classes in the Swedish upper secondary school. This research raises thereby two separate competences. The first of these is the improved digital competence among students which can be achieved when the teacher with the awareness and practical use of applied technological pedagogical content knowledge works with the students’ learning objectives in mind. The second competence in focus is the subject knowledge that is in the center of the teaching.This research is a qualitative study where two separate groups of teachers from different schools in the Swedish western hemisphere talks about questions regarding work with digital tools in school to improve both digital and subject competences among students. The research includes a variety of subject teachers with the purpose to be able to acknowledge didactic experiences and learn from their experiences and thereby make it possible to apply it to the didactic work in social science and civics.To achieve both digital and subject competence among students it is essential for teachers themselves to achieve well established technological pedagogical content knowledge which is applicable in the daily didactic work. The result of the research claims to show that social science and civics, as well as other subjects and courses, can use digital resources to improve competence among students. Through these didactic strategies in teaching the students’ digital skills can be improved as a side effect of the subject taught by teachers with digital didactic resources. Through this design of teaching both digital and subjective competence can be achieved in the didactic work of teachers. / Denna studie har haft som syfte att undersöka lärares uppfattningar om hur ämnesmässig och digital kompetens kan främjas hos elever i samhällskunskap på gymnasiet. Studien lyfter därmed två separata kompetenser. Den första av dessa är en ökad digital kompetens hos eleven som kan främjas då läraren medvetet med hjälp av tillämpad teknisk allmändidaktisk kompetens arbetar för att främja elevens lärande i ämnet. Den andra kompetensen som ligger i fokus är de ämneskunskaper som ligger till grund för undervisningen.Detta är en kvalitativ studie där två separata grupper av lärare från olika skolor i västra Sverige samtalar kring frågor rörande digitalt arbete i skolan för att främja lärande inom både digital kompetens och ämnesmässiga kunskaper. Studien inkluderar ett flertal ämneskompetenser för att därigenom kunna dra allmändidaktiska lärdomar ur lärarnas olika ämnesdidaktiska erfarenheter som kan vara möjliga att applicera i det samhällskunskapsdidaktiska arbetet.För att främja både ämnesmässig och digital kompetens hos eleverna är det av vikt att läraren tillägnar sig själv en god teknisk allmändidaktisk kompetens som är tillämpbar i det ämnesdidaktiska arbetet. Resultatet visar på att det är möjligt att i samhällskunskapsämnet, liksom inom flertalet andra ämnen, använda sig av digitala resurser för elevers lärande. Därigenom blir det möjligt att elevens digitala kompetens främjas som en sidoeffekt av undervisningen som med hjälp av digitala resurser ämnar främja ämnesmässiga kunskaper. På så vis främjas elevers digitala och ämnesmässiga kunskaper parallellt i det didaktiska arbetet.

Notre travail porte sur le thème des connaissances professionnelles mobilisées par les enseignants pendant la préparation et lors de la mise en œuvre de leur enseignement. Notre étude se déroule dans le contexte de l’enseignement des sciences expérimentales. Nous y étudions les connaissances des enseignants et leurs évolutions. Notre approche théorique articule la didactique des sciences et la didactique professionnelle avec comme cadre d’analyse des connaissances des enseignants, le concept de PCK (Pedagogical Content Knowledge), les connaissances pédagogiques liées au contenu. Nous avons élaboré une méthodologie spécifique, associant le chercheur et des binômes de professeurs, afin notamment de saisir l’écart entre la préparation des enseignements et leur mise en œuvre. A partir de cet écart nous définissons des incidents critiques qui sont la base du corpus que nous analysons. Nous identifions les connaissances en jeu, et indiquons comment le concept de PCK s’articule avec celui de schème. Lorsque les enseignants traitent d’un sujet au moyen des démarches d’investigation, ils mobilisent des types de connaissances spécifiques, et mettent en place des pratiques différentes, selon qu'ils travaillent au premier ou second degré. Nous montrons qu’il y a une relation entre ces connaissances et la régulation rétroactive de l’activité qui permet à l’enseignant d’ajuster sa préparation. Nous modélisons une forme d’acquisition d’expérience. / Our work focuses on the theme of professional knowledge mobilized by teachers in their lesson preparations and implementation in class. Our study takes place in the context of the teaching of experimental sciences. We study the knowledge of teachers and the evolutions of this knowledge. Our theoretical approach articulates science education and professional didactics; it also retains, for the analysis of teachers' knowledge, the concept of PCK (Pedagogical Content Knowledge). We have developed a specific methodology, involving the researcher and teachers organized in pairs, to observe the gap between the preparation of lessons and their implementation. From this gap, we define critical incidents: they are the basis of the corpus that we analyzed. We identify the knowledge involved, and we indicate how the concept of PCK articulates with the concept of scheme. When teachers use inquiry-based science teaching (IBST), they mobilize specific knowledge and they implement different practices, depending on their work at primary or secondary school. We show that there is a relationship between knowledge and retroactive control that allows the teacher to adjust his/her preparation. We propose a theoretical model, for a form of acquisition of professional experience.

Made available in DSpace on 2016-04-27T16:58:23Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Alecio Damico.pdf: 1579983 bytes, checksum: fe8b131b4a9b81447fe664d3ac638667 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2007-07-31 / Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior / In this study we investigated the initial preparation of the Elementary School math teachers. 346 future math teachers were surveyed (189 first-year students and 157 last-year students) and 41 professors from two of the ABC paulista region universities. The data gathering was accomplished from the five sources called Instruments: Instrument 1 (the last-year students were asked to create eight problems containing fractions aiming at the evaluation of the Elementary School students; Instrument 2 (the last-year students themselves solved the eight problems they created; Instrument 3 (all students, the undergraduates and the graduates, were submitted to an evaluation containing twenty problems about elementary knowledge of rational numbers); Instrument 4 (interactive interview with 10% of the last-uear students who took part in the research); Instrument 5 (interactive interview with 41 teachers). We have chosen a qualitative approach to analyze the data. Due to the great number of data the qualitative analysis was always preceded by a statistical summary account to show the frequency with which each category or sub-category was observed. The results were grouped into three units of analysis that respectively treated of the mathematical knowledge (concept and process) of the future teachers related to the five subconstructs or definitions of the fractions (part-whole; operator; quotient or indicated division; measurement and linear coordinate); the mathematical knowledge and the PCK (Pedagogical Content Knowledge or didactical knowledge) related to the elementary operations with fractions (addition, subtraction, multiplication and division) and rational numbers in the higher education. Our data draw our attention to the fact that future teachers have a syncretical vision of rational numbers. There is a significant unbalance between the concept and process knowledge, being greater the knowledge of the process, as well as it is also observed the low level of the didactical knowledge related to the forms of representation normally taught at the Elementary School which treat rational numbers (fractions) / Neste estudo investigamos a formação inicial de professores de Matemática para o ensino dos números racionais no Ensino Fundamental. Foram pesquisados 346 estudantes para professores de Matemática (189 iniciantes e 157 concluintes) e 41 formadores de professores de duas universidades do ABC Paulista. A coleta de dados foi realizada por intermédio de cinco fontes, denominadas Instrumentos: Instrumento 1 (os alunos concluintes foram solicitados a criarem oito problemas envolvendo frações, com o objetivo de avaliar alunos do Ensino Fundamental; Instrumento 2 (os alunos concluintes resolveram os oito problemas que criaram); Instrumento 3 (todos os alunos, iniciantes e concluintes, foram submetidos a uma avaliação contendo vinte questões que versavam sobre conhecimentos fundamentais sobre números racionais); Instrumento 4 (entrevista interativa com 10% dos alunos concluintes participantes da pesquisa); Instrumento 5 (entrevista interativa com 41 professores). Optamos por uma abordagem qualitativa de interpretação dos dados. Em função do grande volume de informações, a análise qualitativa sempre foi precedida por um resumo estatístico, com o objetivo de mostrar a freqüência com que cada categoria ou subcategoria foi observada. Os resultados foram apresentados em três unidades de análise que abordam, respectivamente: o conhecimento matemático (conceitual e processual) dos estudantes para professores em relação a cinco subconstrutos ou significados das frações (parte-todo; operador; quociente ou divisão indicada; medida e coordenada linear); o conhecimento matemático e o PCK (conhecimento pedagógico do conteúdo ou conhecimento didático) em relação às operações básicas com frações (adição, multiplicação e divisão); os números racionais na formação universitária. Nossos dados apontam para o fato de que os estudantes para professores têm uma visão sincrética dos números racionais. Há um acentuado desequilíbrio entre o conhecimento conceitual e processual, com prevalência do processual, como também se observa um baixo nível de conhecimento didático relacionado às formas de representação dos conteúdos normalmente ensinados no Ensino Fundamental que versam sobre números racionais (frações)

In 2016 the Ministry of Education in British Columbia (BC), Canada introduced the topics of quantum mechanics (QM) into the Grade 8 science curriculum. Science teachers with or without QM background are expected to learn and teach QM. Stemming from a constructivist theoretical framework, this in-depth exploratory case study explores the processes of learning and teaching the topics of QM by asking: “How does a Grade 8 science teacher learn to teach QM?” The purpose was to understand the teacher’s QM learning process, the development of pedagogical content knowledge (PCK) in QM and teacher’s views of the nature of science (NOS). The data was collected through multiple sources and analyzed by using thematic analysis. The themes were identified under five main categories: 1) the development of PCK in QM is complex, 2) the student-centered approach mandated in the redesigned curriculum may be limiting, 3) the nature of learning QM is not different than learning other subjects, 4) middle school science education is inconsistent with the current level of scientific knowledge, and 5) the development of informed views of NOS requires an accumulation and synthesis of prior knowledge in history and philosophy of science (HPS). The study proposes two previously unexplored integral aspects of PCK framework, since: the ‘allotted time’ in learning and teaching a subject and ‘pre-PCK’ change the nature of PCK development. The term pre-PCK was coined referring to the specific content oriented and student-centered activities that take place before the class with the goal of establishing an effective basis for the PCK development. The insights emerging from the study would be of interest to other Grade 8 science teachers in BC, pre-service teacher program coordinators at the universities, and the Ministry of Education in BC to provide institutional support. This study would also contribute to closing the knowledge and communication gaps between the fields of science, science education practice and science education research. / Graduate

En gymnasielärare i teknik i den svenska skolan påverkar och påverkas av samhället utanför skolans väggar. Samhällets digitalisering kan påverka tekniklärarens relativt stora möjligheter att välja det tekniska innehållet i kurserna, i olika grad. För att vara konkurrenskraftig i samhället behöver framtida tekniker ha goda kunskaper om de just för stunden aktuella teknikområdena och tidigare studier har visat att skolans resultat i hög grad beror av vilka kunskaper läraren har. I den här studien undersöktes tre tekniklärare på olika gymnasieskolor i Sverige, med avseende på synen på deras kunskaper i att undervisa om artificiell intelligens (AI), sakernas internet (Internet of Things - IoT) och robotteknik. Vidare studerades vilka undervisningsmetoder de avsåg att använda, samt vilka begränsande ramar de kunde se i detta uppdrag. Via enkät och intervjuer samlades data om frågeställningarna in. Rådata transkriberades och analyserades med utgångspunkt i Shulmans teori om Pedagogical Content Knowledge (PCK – ibland kallat ämnesdidaktisk kunskap på svenska) och även med stöd av ramfaktorteori och läroplansteori. Resultatet visar att de deltagande lärarna har behov av kompetenshöjning inom dessa tre teknikområden, samt att valet av undervisningsmetoder är beroende av de ramar som bland annat i form av tid och ekonomi påverkar undervisningen. Resultatet skiljer sig inte från liknande tidigare studier genomförda på lärare i grundskolan. / A technology teacher in the Swedish upper secondary school acts and is influenced by society outside the school walls. The digitalisation of society more or less influences how the technology teacher will choose the ways of implementing the curriculum, with respect to the technicalcontent of the courses. To be competitive in society, future technicians must have goodknowledge of the current technical areas, and previous studies have shown that the school's results largely depend on what knowledge the teacher has. In this study, three technology teachers at various upper secondary schools in Sweden were examined, regarding their view of their knowledge in teaching about artificial intelligence (AI), the Internet of Things (IoT) and robotics. The study also investigated their intended teaching methods and the framing factors they perceived when trying to perform this task. Through a survey and interviews, data on the issues were collected. Raw data were transcribed and analysed based on the theory of Pedagogical Content Knowledge (PCK), by Shulman and with the support of frame factor theory and curriculum theory. The results show that the participating teachers need more competence in these three technology areas, and that the choice of teaching methods depends on the resources provided, for instance in the form of time and finances. The results do not differ from similar previous studies conducted on primary school teachers.

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.

abstract: To address the need of scientists and engineers in the United States workforce and ensure that students in higher education become scientifically literate, research and policy has called for improvements in undergraduate education in the sciences. One particular pathway for improving undergraduate education in the science fields is to reform undergraduate teaching. Only a limited number of studies have explored the pedagogical content knowledge of postsecondary level teachers. This study was conducted to characterize the PCK of biology faculty and explore the factors influencing their PCK. Data included semi-structured interviews, classroom observations, documents, and instructional artifacts. A qualitative inquiry was designed to conduct an in-depth investigation focusing on the PCK of six biology instructors, particularly the types of knowledge they used for teaching biology, their perceptions of teaching, and the social interactions and experiences that influenced their PCK. The findings of this study reveal that the PCK of the biology faculty included eight domains of knowledge: (1) content, (2) context, (3) learners and learning, (4) curriculum, (5) instructional strategies, (6) representations of biology, (7) assessment, and (8) building rapport with students. Three categories of faculty PCK emerged: (1) PCK as an expert explainer, (2) PCK as an instructional architect, and (3) a transitional PCK, which fell between the two prior categories. Based on the interpretations of the data, four social interactions and experiences were found to influence biology faculty PCK: (1) teaching experience, (2) models and mentors, (3) collaborations about teaching, and (4) science education research. The varying teaching perspectives of the faculty also influenced their PCK. This study shows that the PCK of biology faculty for teaching large introductory courses at large research institutions is heavily influenced by factors beyond simply years of teaching experience and expert content knowledge. Social interactions and experiences created by the institution play a significant role in developing the PCK of biology faculty. / Dissertation/Thesis / Ph.D. Curriculum and Instruction 2013

Recent trends show that learners’ enrolment and performance in science at secondary school level is dwindling. Some science topics including genetics in biology are said to be difficult for learners to learn and thus they perform poorly in examinations. Teacher knowledge base, particularly topic-specific pedagogical content knowledge (PCK), has been identified by many researchers as an important factor that is linked with learner understanding and achievement in science. This qualitative study was an attempt to explore the PCK of four successful biology teachers and how they developed it in the context of teaching genetics. The purposive sampling technique was employed to select the participating teachers based on their schools’ performance in biology public examinations and recommendations by science specialists and school principals. Pedagogical content knowledge was used as a theoretical framework for the study, which guided the inquiry in data collection, analysis and discussion of the research findings. The study adopted the case study method and various sources of evidence including concept maps, lesson plans, pre-lesson interviews, lesson observations, post-teaching teacher questionnaire, post-lesson interviews and document analysis were used to collect data on teachers’ PCK as well as how PCK was assumed to have developed. The data were analysed in an attempt to determine the individual teachers’ school genetics’ content knowledge, related knowledge of instructional strategies and knowledge of learners’ preconceptions and learning difficulties. The analysis involved an iterative process of coding data into PCK categories of content knowledge, pedagogical knowledge and knowledge of learners’ preconceptions and learning difficulties. The findings of the study indicate that the four successful biology teachers generally have the necessary content knowledge of school genetics, used certain topic-specific instructional strategies, but lacked knowledge of genetics-related learners’ preconceptions and learning difficulties despite having taught the topic for many years. There were some instructional deficits in their approaches and techniques in teaching genetics. The teachers failed to use physical models, teacher demonstration and/or learner experimentation in their lessons (or include them in their lesson plans) to assist learners in visualizing or internalizing the genetics concepts or processes located at the sub-microscopic level. The teachers’ PCK in genetics teaching was assumed to have developed mainly through formal university education programmes, classroom teaching experiences, peer support and participation in in-service workshops. The implications for biology teacher education are also discussed. / Thesis (PhD)--University of Pretoria, 2014. / lk2014 / Humanities Education / PhD / Unrestricted

This study is concerned with the development of subject knowledge in pre-service teachers of secondary physical education (PE) during their one year Physical Education Teacher Education (PETE) course. It investigates the knowledge bases for teaching which pre-service teachers recognised, developed and prioritised, as well as the key influences that impacted on their subject knowledge development. Adopting an interpretive methodology informed by constructivist grounded theory, the study employed interviews, lesson observations and post-lesson reflections as principal research methods. Pre-service teachers were seen to make wide-ranging progress in their subject knowledge, including the development of content knowledge, pedagogical content knowledge, general pedagogical knowledge, knowledge of curriculum and knowledge of pupils. Through this they advanced their view of the nature of PE and how they wanted to teach it. The research highlights, that the process of knowledge development in PETE is socially constructed and complex. Much of the pre-service teachers development was influenced by various communities of practice, particularly their school placements PE departments, but also their University-based learning community. Of these, the legitimised practices within the PE departments were found to be especially important to pre-service teachers development. University-based learning was credited by pre-service teachers with enhancing their holistic understanding of the learning process, developing those aspects of critical pedagogy that were under-developed in schools. The impact of different subject knowledge profiles and the consequences of knowledge deficits are identified. This raises questions about the role and development of subject knowledge within PETE and calls for a re-vitalised debate on the nature of the knowledge in PE. Framed within an ever-changing policy landscape is the need for enhanced and stable partnerships that promote shared visions of PETE, an essential part of which is the need to collaboratively design and evaluate explicit knowledge development pathways which allow pre-service teachers to fulfil their potential and genuinely decide how they want to teach PE.