Despite science education reform efforts stressing the importance of understanding evolution, many students receive little to no exposure to the most important unifying concept in biology. Since evolution is basic to the study of biology, its study should begin with the introduction of the life sciences to students in elementary school. However, many teachers lack sufficient evolutionary content knowledge, have limited acceptance of evolution, and have little confidence to effectively teach it. Better teacher preparation is needed to meet the challenges of ensuring students develop conceptual understanding of evolution. While research shows the general public typically accepts microevolution while rejecting macroevolution, few studies have focused on peoples’ understanding of macroevolution. Additionally, little research exists examining the effects of an intervention on elementary and middle school teachers’ acceptance, understanding, and teaching of macroevolution. Using a conceptual framework based on the Cognitive Reconstruction of Knowledge Model, this study reports the effects of a sustained professional development program on 4th through 8th grade teachers’ acceptance of evolution; understanding of macroevolution; and approach to teaching evolution in schools, awareness of challenges to teaching evolution, and pedagogical content knowledge about teaching macroevolution. This study also explores the relationship between teachers’ understanding of macroevolution and acceptance of evolution. Various data sources, including the Measurement of the Understanding of Macroevolution (Nadelson & Southerland, 2010), the Measure of the Acceptance of the Theory of Evolution (Rutledge & Warden, 1999), teacher interviews, and teacher workshop reflections, were used to answer the research questions. Results from the study revealed that after attending the professional development series, teachers’ understanding of macroevolution and acceptance of evolution significantly increased. Acceptance of evolution was positively correlated to understanding of macroevolution. Teachers’ prior understanding of macroevolution was a significant positive predictor of their subsequent acceptance of evolution. Teachers’ prior acceptance of evolution was a significant predictor of their understanding of macroevolution, but only after teachers participated in at least half of the sustained professional development. Finally, teachers demonstrated having increased macroevolutionary pedagogical content knowledge. This effect was strong in those teachers who were initially low acceptors of evolution. The significance of these findings is discussed. / text

An understanding of whole number place value is a critical component of second-grade mathematics. This understanding of place value provides the foundational concept for operations with whole numbers. The ability to understand the concept of place value and transfer that understanding to teaching addition and subtraction are often problems associated with teachers’ limited pedagogical content knowledge. Teachers must understand teaching place value does not consist of merely teaching students to name the digit in a particular location. A possible solution to the problem is to provide professional development trainings and implementation support through instructional coaching focused on the teaching of place value in a conceptual manner consistent with best pedagogical practices. Therefore, the purpose of this mixed method study is to describe the pedagogical content knowledge of second-grade teachers in order to answer the research question: What can you expect to see in the classroom teaching of place value from second-grade teachers who have attended 12 hours of professional development and have received instructional coaching? Quantitative data includes the use of the Learning Mathematics for Teaching assessment paired with participant observations, discussions, and interviews in order to gain a deeper understanding of the participants’ thinking. The participants of this study are four second-grade teachers from a rural school district outside of Houston, Texas. Each of the four participants attended 12 hours of professional development and received instructional coaching support through classroom observation with post-observation discussions, a model lesson, and instructional planning. The results of the study show that every participant implemented activities from the professional development, used questioning modeled by the presenter during the sessions, and discussed critical concepts in their classrooms. Additionally, teacher pedagogical content knowledge did improve after 12 hours of professional development and instructional coaching. However, the participants believe that further support should be given through a more detailed scope and sequence, which provides information as to when and how the new concepts and activities need to be incorporated in the classroom.

M.Ed. (Mathematics Education) / The purpose of this study was to explore teachers’ pedagogical content knowledge (PCK) in the teaching of equivalent fractions in grade 3 learners. The study used a qualitative paradigm, where a case study design was adopted. Five teachers were sampled through a purposive sampling strategy. The data were collected through three methods: observations, interviews and document analysis. Four teachers were observed in their classrooms and were also interviewed, the fifth teacher was only interviewed through an interview schedule. Interview and observation data were analyzed and interpreted using the ladder of inference, which follows a three-rung approach. The documents in the form of learners’ class works, home works, tests and teachers’ lesson plans were analyzed. Learners’ works correlated with their teachers’ preparations and presentations. The findings indicate that teachers lacked PCK in the teaching of fractions in particular, equivalent fractions. Teachers were not competent, fluent and not independent in the teaching of fractions. It is also clear from data collected that fractions are notoriously difficult for teachers to teach and for learners to learn. On the whole, teachers seem to lack requisite skills to contextualize content to the appropriate cognitive levels of their learners. Teachers demonstrated poor content and conceptual knowledge ...

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Este trabalho é voltado para o estudo do desenvolvimento do Conhecimento Pedagógico do Conteúdo (PCK) de duas professoras no ensino de Ciências para crianças do 3º ano do Ensino Fundamental a partir de uma intervenção formativa sobre argumentação. Olhamos para a gravação de duas sequências de aulas realizadas em uma escola privada situada na cidade de São Caetano do Sul, região metropolitana de São Paulo. As professoras receberam o nome fictício de Ana e Sara e participaram, no ano de 2012, na unidade de trabalho, de um curso sobre argumentação. No início dessa formação, uma sequência de aulas com seus alunos sobre o tópico ciclo da água foi registrada em áudio e vídeo. No ano de 2015 uma segunda sequência de aulas foi gravada com alunos do mesmo ano escolar ensinando o mesmo tópico. Nossos objetivos foram, conhecer a formação inicial e a trajetória docente das professoras, analisar se a formação a que foram submetidas agregou elementos que pudessem subsidiá-las na implementação da argumentação em suas aulas e acessar o PCK das professoras para o tópico ciclo da água. Para analisar o desenvolvimento do PCK das professoras nos pautamos no Modelo proposto por Padilla. As principais conclusões foram: o conhecimento do conteúdo tem forte influência no PCK e; a formação que as professoras participaram reverberou em suas práticas docentes. Apontamos como contribuições mais importantes em suas aulas, o aumento da voz e da autonomia intelectual dos alunos. Contudo, quando olhamos para as duas sequências de aulas percebemos que a formação não foi condição suficiente para que abandonassem o formato das aulas que estavam habituadas e passassem a propor aos alunos o ensino numa perspectiva da argumentação. / The aim of this work is to study the development of Pedagogical Content Knowledge (PCK) of two elementary school science teachers at K-3 level from an educational intervention on argumentation. We looked at the recording of two sequences of classes held at a private school located in the city of São Caetano do Sul, metropolitan region of São Paulo. The teachers were given the fictitious name of Ana and Sara and participated of a course on argumentation in the year 2012, in the unit of work. At the beginning of this training, a sequence of classes with their students on the topic water cycle was recorded in audio and video. In the year of 2015 a second sequence of classes teaching the same topic was recorded with students of the same level. Our objectives were to know about initial education and the teaching trajectory of the teachers, to analyze if the training to which they were submitted added elements that could subsidize them in the implementation of the argumentation in their classes and to access the PCK of the teachers for the topic water cycle. In order to analyze the development of the PCK of the teachers we based on the Model proposed by Padilla. The main conclusions were that content knowledge has a strong influence on PCK and the training they participated reverberated in their teaching practices. We point out as the most important contributions in their classes, the increasing of the voice and the intellectual autonomy of students. However, when we looked at the two learning sequences we realized that the training was not enough condition for them to abandon the format of the classes they were using to and to propose to the students the teaching from an argumentative perspective.

This study explored the relationship between teachers’ ideas on teaching electricity and their awareness of learners’ misconceptions. A sample of six participants was conveniently selected from six different schools in an urban setting. A multi case design was used, treating each participant as a separate case. Data were collected using a questionnaire and interview. Each question in the questionnaire was designed to probe teachers’ knowledge, understanding and addressing of well-known misconceptions about circuits as reported in the literature. Interviews focused on teachers’ ideas about content and teaching methods. Results were interpreted using an existing Pedagogical Content Knowledge (PCK) model as conceptual framework. It was found that teachers’ understanding of misconceptions ranged from minimal to insightful. Their strategies to correct misconceptions included teaching factually, mathematically, practically and conceptually. It was found that those teachers who were well aware of their learners’ misconceptions also held ideas that science teaching should focus on conceptual understanding and that various teaching methods should be used. Conversely, teachers who demonstrated poor understanding of misconceptions tended to view and teach concepts as isolated facts. It is argued that the relationship between teachers’ ideas and their awareness of misconceptions is one of cyclic reinforcement rather than simple cause and effect. The results also showed that teachers’ qualifications play a significant role in their ability to facilitate understanding of concepts in electric circuits. A new hierarchical model of pedagogical content knowledge is proposed to explain the results of this study. / Dissertation (MEd)--University of Pretoria, 2013. / lk2014 / Science, Mathematics and Technology Education / MEd / Unrestricted

The poor learner outcomes in the TIMSS assessment, the SACMEQ assessment, and the Grade 9 ANAs led to this study being conducted. The purpose of the study was to explore whether Grade 9 mathematics teachers’ teaching can improve learner outcomes. This study therefore investigated the literature regarding mathematics teachers’ classroom practices with an emphasis on teachers’ Pedagogical Content Knowledge (PCK), Pedagogical Content Knowledge and Skills (PCK&S), and how these teachers used assessment outcomes to inform their teaching of mathematics. In developing learners’ conceptual understanding and higher-order thinking skills, mathematics teachers not only need subject matter knowledge, but also PCK and the skill to implement their planning efficiently during instruction. The conceptual framework for this study is based on Gess-Newsome’s (in Berry et al., 2015) Model of Teachers’ Professional Knowledge and Skills. Based on this, PCK was examined in the planning and executing of topic-specific instruction and as a skill when teaching this content to the learners for enhanced learner outcomes. The research approach was qualitative and the research design was a case study. Two Grade 9 mathematics teachers from one school were selected through purposive sampling. The data were collected using a baseline test, three classroom observations, one semi-structured interview and a formative test. Both teachers used Direct Instruction in all their lessons, but proficiently used various representations when explaining the work, and integrated the topic into other mathematical topics and real-life scenarios. The teachers admitted that they did not usually make use of baseline tests to inform their teaching due to time constraints, but found it valuable during this endeavour. The findings from the two tests showed many learners still have the same misconceptions regarding the concepts of surface area, volume and capacity; continued to make the same typical mistakes in finding formulae for surface area and volume; and still found it difficult to convert between the SI units. There was, however, significant improvement in learner outcomes, but the positive outcomes regarding all typical mistakes and learner difficulties were still below 46%. / Dissertation (MEd)--University of Pretoria, 2017. / Science, Mathematics and Technology Education / MEd / Unrestricted

The purpose of this research study is to determine and describe in-service SBAE teachers? perceived Pedagogical Content Knowledge (PCK) and challenges with non-content related classroom material. In general, PCK is the point where knowledge of teaching meets agricultural content knowledge. With the rising number of alternatively certified agricultural educators across the country, it is important to examine PCK in both traditionally and alternatively certified teachers as well as the differences between the two. Since successful classroom management is crucial to teacher retention, it is necessary to look at the differences in difficulty of implementation of various strategies. Agricultural education is diverse and involves numerous topics within the broad industry. This study also describes the sources of content knowledge among the two licensure types. It is recommended that future studies research the PCK of teachers based on years of experience and licensure route.

Research has ranked electrochemistry as one of the more difficult topics to teach and learn. Examiners in South Africa have complained about the poor performance in electrochemistry related concepts in Grade 12 public exams. This may suggest that the physical science teachers may not be teaching it very well. Accomplished teachers use specialized knowledge to transform their knowledge of subject matter into a form that can easily be understood by learners, known as pedagogical content knowledge (PCK). Little is known about the quality of PCK of teachers within this topic and currently there is no instrument to measure quality of topic specific PCK of practicing physical science teachers. The main purpose of the study was to design and validate an instrument that could be used to measure the quality of topic specific PCK of practicing physical science teachers in electrochemistry. The study was a methodology study which used a Mixed Methods (MM) approach. MM were used because the design of the instrument requires both qualitative and quantitative methods in the various steps towards its creation. The topic specific PCK (TSPCK) theoretical framework guided the design of the instrument. TSPCK comprises of 5 components namely: (i) Learners’ Prior Knowledge including misconceptions; (ii) Curricular Saliency; (iii) What makes topic easy or difficult to understand; (iv) Representations or models; and (v) Conceptual teaching Strategies that enables transformation of content knowledge into its teachability. The new instrument was designed to elucidate TSPCK in electrochemistry according to these five components which each component represented a test item. The design process followed these steps chronologically: (i) Conceptualization of test items, (ii) construction of the instrument and judgment of items, (iii) piloting and construction of the actual instrument and finally validation of the instrument. After its conceptualization and development, the instrument was validated with a convenience sample of 21 practicing physical science teachers in Johannesburg schools, Gauteng province, South Africa. A topic specific PCK rubric was used to score the teachers’ responses on a 4 point scale-from 1 “limited” to 4 “Exemplary” Topic Specific PCK. The Rasch Winsteps program analysed the teachers’ scores and ascertained the validity of the instrument through statistics of goodness of fit. In addition, the Rasch 2 model determined the hierarchy difficulty of topic specific PCK components as well as instrument reliability. Both the items and persons’ responses fell within an acceptable conventional range of -2 and +2 Infit/outfit statistics. The item and person reliability indices of the developed instrument were 0.97 and 0.89 respectively. The results show that it is possible to design an instrument that is valid and reliable instrument. Data on content knowledge of teachers was collected using the Content Knowledge test. It was found that a high concentration of teachers possessed a sound knowledge of electrochemistry but with a corresponding low topic specific PCK. This is likely the reason of poor performance of grade 12 learners in exams on electrochemistry related topics. Furthermore, a positive statistically significant linear relationship was found to exist between Content knowledge and the measured teachers’ topic specific PCK. The findings suggest that TSPCK instrument might be used for teaching purposes so as to boost the practicing teachers’ TSPCK on electrochemistry. In addition, the findings suggest that the instrument might be incorporated as a training tool in inservice teacher workshops.

A thesis submitted to the Faculty of Science, University of the Witwatersrand In partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Science (Science Education) Johannesburg, 2017 / Over the past three years, National Senior Certificate diagnostic reports reported that learner performance in key chemistry topics remains an aspect for concern. In these reports, poor understanding of stoichiometry is identified as an underlying factor. On the other hand, the status of mathematics and science teaching has been under critique by several education researchers, pointing to poor teacher training in the subjects. One possible way to respond to the challenge in science education is to introduce and emphasize the development of Topic Specific Pedagogical Content Knowledge (TSPCK) as the professional knowledge for teaching science topics in Initial Teacher Education (ITE) programme. TSPCK is renowned for enabling teachers to pedagogically transform difficult content of specific science topics into forms best understandable by learners. This study examined the impact on the quality of TSPCK following an intervention that explicitly targeted the development of the competence to transform content knowledge using stoichiometry as a topic of learning. This examination happened as teacher plan to teach the topic. The study followed a Mixed Method research design and a case study as a research strategy. It was located in the methodology class of physical science IV. The participants were 10 pre-service teachers who were in their final year of Bachelor study in education (B. Ed). They were bound by the requirements of the course and their common choice of physical science as their major subject. These pre-service teachers were exposed to a TSPCK based intervention that explicitly targeted the development of TSPCK component interaction. More evidence of component interactions was comprehended as developing quality of TSPCK. Quantitative data was collected as a set of pre- and post-intervention TSPCK tests using existing, specially designed tools that were developed and validated in a separate study. Five (5) of the then pre-service were followed a year later after the intervention to measure the quality of TSPCK in the topic of intervention in order to determine the extent of retention of the quality of TSPCK since the intervention. Qualitative data was collected through face to face interviews to confirm observed patterns of retention. The findings in this study indicated that pre-service teachers experienced a visible improvement in the quality of their TSPCK in stoichiometry as a direct result of the intervention. Pre-service teachers showed more evidence of component interactions post the intervention. The results further indicated that pre-service teachers experienced the components of TSPCK to have different levels of difficulty when using them to transform the content in stoichiometry during planning. The component of ―conceptual teaching strategies‖ was found to be the most difficult. A year later, the quality of TSPCK in planning to teach the topic of the intervention was found to have been retained by the then pre-service teachers. Recommendations about the implementation of TSPCK in core topics in ITE are made. Firstly, for initial teacher education, it is recommended that courses such as methodology for teaching chemistry be structured as TSPCK based intervention. Secondly, more work need to be done in the examination of retention span of TSPCK. Thus, similar studies must be conducted in an effort to increase empirical evidence about the extent at which TSPCK is retained by beginning teachers. / MT 2017