The bulk of research on teacher knowledge has taken place in elementary and secondary school settings. The goal of this study was to examine teacher knowledge in higher education by asking: (1) what types of knowledge are drawn upon in teaching in higher education and (2) Are there differences in the knowledge drawn upon by inexperienced (M = 5.77, SD = 2.8 years teaching), experienced (M = 18.79, SD = 7.36 years teaching), and professors who have won teaching awards (M = 19,50, SD = 7.60 years teaching)? Participants were selected at random from published lists of university faculty. Questionnaires were mailed to 500 potential respondents asking them to recall and describe two memorable teaching incidents and then rate their response, using a Likert-type scale, to a series of items based on descriptions of teacher knowledge found in the literature. They indicated the extent to which they considered each item, and the extent to which they felt they had been influenced by knowledge of the item at the time of the incident. Finally, respondents answered questions about their teaching background. A total of 102 completed questionnaires were returned. Principal components analysis (PCA) resulted in a four factor solution describing the knowledge drawn upon. Factors were (1) pedagogical content knowledge, (2) current knowledge of learners, (3) knowledge of content, and (4) knowledge of learners' background and appropriate pedagogy. Definitions of the four factors were generated using PCA results and descriptions of the incidents selected based on factor coefficient scores. Stepwise multiple regression was used to determine variables that best predict factor scores. Overall, no differences were found between the factor scores of inexperienced, experienced, and award-winning professors. Results indicated differences in the definitions of particular types of teacher knowledge in higher education that broaden the definitions found in the literature. Results also indicated
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:LACETR/oai:collectionscanada.gc.ca:QMM.34529 |
| Date | January 1997 |
| Creators | Rahilly, Timothy J. |
| Contributors | Saroyan, Alenoush (advisor) |
| Publisher | McGill University |
| Source Sets | Library and Archives Canada ETDs Repository / Centre d'archives des thèses électroniques de Bibliothèque et Archives Canada |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Electronic Thesis or Dissertation |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Coverage | Doctor of Philosophy (Department of Educational and Counselling Psychology.) |
| Rights | All items in eScholarship@McGill are protected by copyright with all rights reserved unless otherwise indicated. |
| Relation | alephsysno: 001617697, proquestno: NQ37015, Theses scanned by UMI/ProQuest. |
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