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

Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of the Witwatersrand, Faculty of Humanities, School of Education, 2012 / Reflection about lessons delivered is a practice widely encouraged in teaching. Reasoning, particularly about transformation of subject matter knowledge of lessons yet to be taught, is an internal process and a speciality evident largely in expert teachers. The study investigates the feasibility of fast-tracking its development in pre-service chemistry teachers. It focuses on developing this specialty within a specific topic, as a theoretical construct called Topic Specific PCK (TSPCK). Five knowledge components of TSPCK are identified as the enablers that transform subject matter knowledge. The components are: (1) students’ prior knowledge, (2) curricular Saliency, (3) what is difficult to teach (4) representations, including powerful analogies, and (5) conceptual teaching strategies. These components are identified, with reference to literature, as aspects specific to the subject matter knowledge of the teacher and useful in its teachability. A new tool to measure the quality of TSPCK is developed. The procedure for developing the tool consists of the following steps: (i) confirming the characteristics of the test items fitting the Topic Specific PCK construct, (ii) production of test items, (iii) judgment of items, (iv) construction of the instrument (v) piloting and (vi) validation of the instrument. Care is taken to ensure presentation of multiple evidence and discussions, addressing the interpretive and arguments as requirements for showing validity of the construct measured by the instrument. The Topic Specific PCK tool is validated with a group of 20 practicing teachers. The tool is scored, using a rubric corresponding to the five components with each being rated on a four point scale, from 1 (Limited) to 4 (Exemplary). The analysis of the generated scores is done using the Rasch statistical model (Winstep, version 3.72.3). The reliability indices as indicated by person reliability and item reliability are found to be high at 0.86 at 0.91, respectively. The persons and item scores reflect measures well inside the conventionally acceptable range of -2 and +2. A further indicator of validity of the tool is the empirically calculated hierarchy of test items’ order of difficulty, found similar to the theoretically predicted pattern for the teacher group. Based on the above analysis and findings, I regard the tool as valid and reliable. My research design is based on mixed-methods research (MM). The research strategy takes the form of a case study. The study is located in a methodology class for final year physical science pre-service teachers. They formed an experimental group (N=16) for this study. I delivered an intervention, targeting understanding of transformation of Chemical Equilibrium concepts, using the above listed five knowledge components. I collected data through a combination of tools, including the newly designed Topic Specific PCK tool in Chemical Equilibrium, an Achievement tool and a science teacher Belief tool. Both the Achievement and the Belief tools were adapted from existing tools, and were thus considered tried and validated. The findings suggest that the quality of Topic Specific PCK in chemical equilibrium may be improved in pre-service teachers by the explicit discussion of the knowledge enabling its transformation. They also suggest that, in the process of discussing aspects of subject matter knowledge related to its transformation, pre-service teachers improve their conceptual understanding of chemical equilibrium. Both these improvements were not affected by the shift or lack of shift in teacher beliefs from teacher-centred towards student-centred practices. I acknowledge the small size of the sample as a practical limitation to the generalization of the statistical findings in this study. I suggest that emphasis be placed on the trends displayed, as they are similar to those obtained from the multiple sources of the qualitative component of the study. Finally, I recommend that the development of PCK in pre-service teachers be considered in a topic by topic manner. I urge that the teaching of chemistry topics be explicitly organized in a format in which pre-service teachers would be expected to reason about them, and particularly transform them for teaching.

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The study investigated 6 Soweto primary school teachers’ ability to analyse and give feedback on the errors of English First Additional Language learners. Drawing on literature on assessment for learning and feedback, as well as on error analysis of English second language learning, I developed a conceptual framework that enabled me to classify learner errors and teachers feedback strategies. I used a qualitative approach to investigate assessment abilities. Firstly, the teachers marked a written assessment task, identified errors, evaluated learner performance and gave feedback based on identified errors. Secondly, the teachers were interviewed on why learners made those errors and what feedback strategies they suggested for remediating the errors. The findings indicated that the teachers: i) were generally capable of identifying the errors, ii) struggled to correct the identified errors, iii) were still working in a summative mind-set, and iv) were insecure about their abilities to deal with English First Additional Language errors. Therefore, assessment for learning has a long way to go for the township primary school teachers.

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.

The Education Faculties within the universities are looking to meet the needs of their learners more completely. Teaching and learning strategies are being adopted to make educational provision more flexible by using computer supported collaborative learning environments. However, research has shown that in preservice teacher programs, many teachers do not have a complete knowledge of subject-matter or pedagogical content knowledge. This study investigated how a lesson-planning task within the context of a computer supported collaborative learning environment can facilitate the growth of teacher knowledge, specifically subject-matter knowledge and pedagogical content knowledge about the teaching of ratio and fraction. The findings from this research showed that using a lesson-planning task facilitated the development of teacher knowledge, specifically subject-matter knowledge and pedagogical content knowledge. Within the computer supported collaborative learning community, the preservice teachers were able to articulate their current understandings and re-define their knowledge of fraction and ratio. The thesis concludes with a conceptual framework and some specific guidelines for the design of a scaffolded computer-mediated community and discusses implications for the design of future collaborative learning environments.

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 purpose of this study was to examine pre-service mathematics teachers&amp / #8217 / subject matter knowledge, pedagogical content knowledge, and the relationships between the two on multiplication and division of fractions. For this purpose, pre-service teachers&amp / #8217 / understanding of key facts, concepts, principles, and proofs, their knowledge on common (mis)conceptions and difficulties held by the elementary students, their strategies of teaching these concepts, and representations they use to reason their understanding on multiplication and division of fractions were examined. Qualitative case study was performed where / data was collected from the pre-service teachers at the end of the spring semester of 2004-2005. Pre-service teachers were senior students enrolled in a teacher education program at a public university. Results revealed that pre-service teachers could easily symbolize and solve the basic questions on multiplication and division of fractions. However, in terms of pre-service teachers&amp / #8217 / interpretation and reasoning of key facts and principles on multiplication and division of fractions, their subject matter knowledge could not be regarded as conceptually deep. Furthermore, although pre-service teachers have strong belief that they should teach multiplication and division of fractions conceptually, where the logical background of the operations is explained, they do not have sufficient knowledge to represent and explain these topics and relationships conceptually.

Innehållet i förskolans läroplan medför att de som arbetar med den behöver kunskaper inom många olika ämnesområden. Syftet med studien var därför att få mer kunskap om pedagogers egenupplevda ämnes- och ämnesdidaktiska kunskaper, utifrån angivna mål och riktlinjer i Läroplan för förskolan. Till det användes webbenkät som metod. Efter bearbetning omfattade studiens material 160 webbenkätsvar. Ämnet som då skattades högst var språk/kommunikation och ämnet som skattades lägst var fysik. I tillägg till det framkom att drygt 50 av respondenterna, vid planerade pedagogiska aktiviteter, använde sig av olika didaktiska strategier beroende på hur de skattade sin ämneskunskap. Till skillnad från högt skattade ämnen tenderade de nämligen att, vid arbete med lågt skattade ämnen, förbise samspel och att ha barns intresse/behov som utgångspunkter i verksamheten.

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