Denna studie syftar till att undersöka vilka metoder samhällskunskapslärare på gymnasiet tillämpar för att främja framgångsrik undervisning i samhällskunskapsämnet. Ämnet samhällskunskap är tvärvetenskapligt till sin karaktär och utgår från flera samhällsvetenskapliga discipliner (Skolverket, 2022). Därför har samhällskunskapsundervisningen ett variationsrikt innehåll där lärares professionella friutrymme att tolka läro- och kursplaner kan ta fasta på olika metoder och innehåll som framgångsrikt främjar lärande. Det teoretiska ramverket Pedagogical Content Knowledge (PCK) är därför applicerat på föreliggande studie för att analysera hur samhällskunskapslärare använder sin pedagogiska ämneskunskap för att undervisa framgångsrikt i samhällskunskap. Genom en kvalitativ metod i användandet av semistrukturerade intervjuer intervjuas tio legitimerade samhällskunskapslärare utifrån deras perspektiv på framgångsrik samhällskunskapsundervisning. Det erhållna datamaterialet analyseras därefter genom en kvalitativ innehållsanalys där tematiska kategorier från lärarnas svar frambringas. Resultatet visar att framgångsrik samhällskunskapsundervisning präglas av flera faktorer som exempelvis engagemang, egna intressen i kombination med djupa ämneskunskaper, verklighetsanknytning, variation samt autentiska lärandesituationer. / This study aims to investigate what methods social studies teachers in upper secondary school implement to promote successful teaching in the social studies subject. The subject of social studies is interdisciplinary in its character and draws on several social science disciplines (Swedish National Agency for Education, 2022). Therefore, social studies teaching has a varied content where teachers' professional autonomy in interpreting curricula and syllabi can embrace different methods and content that successfully promote learning. The theoretical framework Pedagogical Content Knowledge (PCK) is therefore applied to the present study to analyze how social studies teachers use their pedagogical content knowledge to teach successfully in social studies. Through a qualitative method using semi-structured interviews, ten licensed social studies teachers are interviewed from their perspective on successful social studies teaching. The data obtained is then analyzed through a qualitative content analysis in which thematic categories from the teachers' responses are derived. The results show that successful social studies teaching is characterized by several factors such as commitment, own interests in combination with deep subject knowledge, connection to reality, variation, and authentic learning situations.

Postgraduate tutors have an important role to play in teaching and learning in higher education. There has been substantial research conducted in this area - much of it is orientated towards improving the quality of the methods of instruction and classroom practice. Far less research has been focused on the postgraduate tutors as producers of content. This research is based on an intervention that tasked five postgraduate tutors with planning two tutorials and designing an assessment task: activities that fell outside the scope of their usual work and roles. The aim of the research is to discover more about how postgraduate tutors, who typically have extensive and expert content knowledge, but very little pedagogical knowledge, develop pedagogical content knowledge. The study tracks the decision making process and the knowledge reservoirs that the participants emphasise in their planning and design in order learn about the teaching beliefs and priorities of these novice teachers. The analysis goes on to explore the criteria for legitimation that the postgraduate tutors establish and/ or entrench. The study finds that the participants are highly sensitive to the many kinds of constraints that circulate and that they in turn re-circulated. It goes on to suggest that postgraduate tutors are likely to reproduce the regulative rules that they find in operation and the cumulative messages of what is valued in terms of student and teacher performance in a given context.

I denna intervjustudie fokuserar vi på lågstadielärares olika kunskaper och hur dessa  påverkar undervisningen. Vår studie utgår från de 7 intervjuer som vi har genomfört, där lärarnas egna kunskaper framställs samt vad deras val har för betydelse för engelskundervisningens utformning. Syftet med vår studie är att synliggöra vilka didaktiska beslut lärare tar i engelskundervisningen och hur dessa beslut kan påverkas av lärarens ämneskunskaper, ämnesdidaktiska kunskaper samt kunskaper om läroplanen. I studien argumenterar vi för att lågstadielärare är i behov av ovanstående kunskaper för att kunna bedriva en meningsfull engelskundervisning på lågstadiet.

Vilken kunskap krävs för att en lärare skall kunna undervisa ett innehåll på ett sätt så att eleverna både inspireras och förstår? Denna uppsats studerar elevers upplevelser av ett specifikt fenomen, dvs. lärares ämnesdidaktiska kunskap. Många forskare har försökt att besvara denna komplexa fråga. Shulman (1986, 1987) myntade begreppet Pedagogical Content Knowledge (PCK). Det är den egenskap som läraren besitter, en särskilt unik kunskap, som främjar elevers lärande. Det finns mycket forskning ur lärarens perspektiv, däremot saknas en del i PCK och det är elevernas röster. Syftet med studien är att ta det ett steg längre och låta elevernas röster vara de som är betydelsefulla för att beskriva den unika kunskapsbas som en lärare besitter. Jag har använt mig av Video Stimulated Reflection (VSR) och video-clubs tillsammans med 12 elever där eleverna kollaborativt fått identifiera kritiska händelser i lärarens undervisning som de anser vara särskilt betydelsefulla för deras lärande. Resultatet i studien visar att när ett lärande sker, är det många faktorer som spelar roll. Eleverna lyfter vissa egenskaper som gynnar deras lärande, en av dem var lärarens ämnesdidaktiska kunskap, en annan är när läraren använder sig av analogier och metaforer. Men oavsett hur forskare och lärare identifierar PCK är det ändå eleverna som borde vara experter på att uttrycka vad som gör det lätt respektive svårt att lära.

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.

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.

Philosophiae Doctor - PhD / Libya, as one of the third world countries, is struggling to address the issue of transformation and various institutional reforms (including the education system). For example, it has been observed that many biology teachers are faced with challenges relating to both subject matter knowledge (SMK) and pedagogical content knowledge (PCK) yet the expectation of the new curriculum is that biology teachers demonstrate professional efficacy in their work regardless of the challenges they face. In light of this, a group of Libyan secondary school biology teachers was investigated in Tripoli through a participatory action research process. The study was underpinned by the Shulman theory of PCK using a mixed-methods design to generate an understanding of the theory of basic knowledge of teaching.

The implementation of a new curriculum is a challenging issue to educators in many countries. In this country training for an implementation of a curriculum is done in one week and it takes a form of one a size fits all. The study investigated how I transform my content knowledge when teaching a new topic in the new curriculum. The aim of this study was to carry a self- study of how I transformed my content knowledge when teaching energy resources and its uses to make it comprehensible to learners. The following research question guided the study:  How did my PCK develop as I developed the broad content of the energy resources and its uses into focused, teachable and comprehensible content?  How did my planning and reflecting on practice change as I participated in the process of planning, developing and implementing the lesson plans? When teachers teach, they draw upon knowledge of their subject matter, general pedagogy as well as context. This could be improved by the contribution of the concept of pedagogical content knowledge where content and pedagogy are blended. Therefore, for this study I have chosen PCK as a theoretical framework because I will be looking at how my content knowledge can be transformed into content knowledge for teaching. The study employed a qualitative research, which uses multiple realities that are socially constructed through collective and individual definitions of the situations. It is a self –study focusing on my own teaching and intending to improve my practice as a teacher. The focus is myself teaching two grade 11 classes in a township school. Khumalo M. iv Data was collected in a form of concept maps, reflective journals, lesson plan and CoRE s and PaPeRs. CoRes and PaPe-Rs were used to capture and portray my PCK. The methodological tools used to document and portray my Pedagogical Content Knowledge when teaching energy and resources, used representations called Content Representation (CoRe) and Pedagogical and Professional – experience Repertoires (PaP-eRs). The CoRe elaborated on my construction of content, which framed the topic and each Pa-PeR, was a narrative derived from the classroom observations and the journal. Findings in this study indicate that using the CoRe and PaPeR as a tool to portray PCK helps in the development of content knowledge. Some elements of PCK could be identified and the implementation of developed lessons led to insight into my teaching. Learners participated more freely and develop confidence when home language was used. I gained confidence using the CoRe to develop lessons.

The South African government that was elected in 1994 made tremendous changes in the Education system. The new government came up with the new curriculum for Basic Education (grade R- 12). The new curriculum had new topics in physical science. This made me as a teacher doubt whether I would be able to teach new topics. During my time as a student, I was not taught mining at school or college. As a result, I decided to do a self study in order to investigate how I would learn gold mining as a topic in order for me to be able to teach it to my learners. My study involved studying my own teaching practice while learning and also finding out the key things that made me understand the content knowledge involved in the topic of gold mining. The self study was done in order to ensure that I understood the content knowledge and how best to teach it to the learners. I used a collaboration team, reflective journal, group interviews classroom observation and learners’ responses to collect data. The participants were my grade 11 learners and myself. My data was analysed using a PCK model, CoRes and PaPeRs. I had to learn the content knowledge and transform it to make it understandable to learners. I designed lessons using the prior knowledge of learners and integrating Physical Science and Geography. Lessons did not go as smoothly as I had expected. Learners wanted some of their existing knowledge to be included. The classroom activities depended entirely on the relationship between the teacher and learners. I carried out my study bearing in mind that implementation of the new curriculum depends not only on classroom interactions (DoE, 2002) but most importantly on the content knowledge that the teacher has and how it is transformed. Learners taught me to understand gold mining from the geographical point of view as well from the scientific point of view. From the beginning of the study they were really excited and were looking forward to new things. Using the learners’ science prior knowledge helped me design lessons that allowed me to learn to be a facilitator.