• Journal of Korean Elementary Science Education
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• v.29 no.3
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• pp.350-363
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• 2010

Recently there has been increasing emphasis on pedagogical content knowledge (PCK) for fostering science teachers' teaching professionalism that needs to be done from teacher training courses systematically. We investigated what were the PCK factors considered in planning instruction and the difficulties encountered in implementing it by pre-service teachers. In this study, 26 sophomores at an university of education in Gyeonggi province were asked to perform teaching demonstrations using scientific instruction models. They were also requested to write reflective journals and interview. Analyses of the results revealed that many pre-service teachers considered the teaching strategies such as the instruction organization and implementation when planning instruction. They had also regard to the learners' cognitive affective aspects, whereas the pre-knowledge of them was not properly considered. Especially, the curriculum and assessment were almost disregarded. Most of the difficulties encountered in planning instruction and implementing it were appeared in terms of the teaching strategies. For example, they had difficulties in considering the characteristics of each stage presented by the instruction models when planning instruction and implementing it. The frequencies of the difficulties in implementing experiment were especially higher than those of the other PCK factors. Educational implications of these findings are discussed.

• Journal of The Korean Association For Science Education
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• v.26 no.4
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• pp.527-536
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• 2006

This study investigated the components of science teacher professionalism, the meaning of PCK (Pedagogical Content Knowledge), examples of science PCK, and complementary measures that should be taken to improve teacher professionalism. Six science teachers recommended by their colleagues explained that the science teacher's professionalism (or professional knowledge) consists of science content knowledge, knowledge about teaching, knowledge about learners, and improvement efforts. Science teachers' definition of PCK, which is the professional knowledge that members of the wider society expect teachers to possess, is the teacher's materialized knowledge that aims at students' understanding and PCK is the accumulated know-how of teachers as they strive to make their teaching comprehensible by students. Science teachers also contended that teachers as professionals need to complement an accountability system, acknowledgement of continuous self-developmental efforts, collegiality, and securing validity in the teacher employment test. The teachers argued that the societal recognition of teaching professionalism is essential for a high quality teaching. Suggestions for how to improve science teaching professionalism are also discussed.

• Journal of The Korean Association For Science Education
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• v.27 no.8
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• pp.743-754
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• 2007

Whether This paper argues that teacher efficacy is an affective affiliate of pedagogical content knowledge (PCK) based on empirical data of a study on the nature and construct of PCK. This study was a collective case study utilizing qualitative research methods. The participants of the study were three high school science teachers in the U.S. Data was collected from multiple sources such as classroom observation, interviews, teachers' written reflection, students' work samples, and researchers' field notes. Data was analyzed using the "In-depth Analysis of Explicit PCK" developed by the author. Data analysis indicated that teacher efficacy played a critical role in developing PCK by facilitating the movement from PCK to the enactment of PCK.

• Journal of The Korean Association For Science Education
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• v.28 no.6
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• pp.618-632
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• 2008

Despite the rapidly growing body of research on science teachers' pedagogical content knowledge (PCK), most of the research has mainly focused on the definition of PCK and its components. The main purpose of this research was to explore the operational definition of PCK and to suggest another form by re-conceptualizing PCK, with the newly defined and conceptualized PCK capable of being used as standards and/or criteria in selecting the curricular content of and deciding the subject area of science teacher education. In this research, the science teachers' PCK was defined as the "practical knowledge and skills that are acquired through the curriculum of science education and in the course of teaching experiences, and which are used in their teaching of secondary school science." The science teachers' PCK was further defined as consisting of two integrated and/or combined dimensions: subject matter and pedagogy, each of which comprises several components. In this paper, the PCK is called science education literacy. The paper also presents the ways to apply the operational definition of PCK and re-conceptualized PCK and a few suggestions for the research on science teachers' PCK.

• Journal of Korean Elementary Science Education
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• v.26 no.2
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• pp.226-241
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• 2007

The purpose of this study was to elucidate elementary school teachers' pedagogical content knowledge regarding the subject of "weight and pressure in water". 6 elementary teachers in charge of the 6th grade were selected for this study. The 7 hour lessons were observed over $15{\sim}20$ days, and a variety of data including scenarios, questionnaires for teachers, interviews of teachers were analyzed. As a result of this study, teachers who had long career histories thought that the purpose of teaching science was to teach the use of science principles, and teachers who had only taught for a relatively short time thought the purpose was satisfying students' curiosity. Most of the teachers felt that the science content knowledge related to buoyancy was insufficient. They had acquired most of the science content knowledge from teaming experiences in middle and high schools. The pre-service teacher education programs didn't help them to satisfactorily acquire the science content knowledge under analysis here. Most of the teachers taught the science lessons according to the order of sequence as shown in the science textbook. They didn't teach the contents that they thought were needed if they were not already included in the science textbook. Only one teacher who had taken science courses in high school managed the science classes freely according to his own thoughts and opinions. From the results of this research, it could be concluded that most elementary school teachers did not have enough pedagogical content knowledge to teach their students effectively.

• Journal of Engineering Education Research
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• v.19 no.3
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• pp.23-34
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• 2016

Teaching orientations represent teachers' general way of conceptualizing their teaching. The orientations are regarded as a very important factor in developing teachers' pedagogical content knowledge because they often guide their instructional decisions such as the selection of contents and teaching strategies, the use of curricula materials, and the evaluation of learning. Thus, understanding teachers' orientations can provide meaningful suggestions to understand their instructional approaches and furthermore to enhance the quality of engineering education in college. The research question for this present study was what kinds of teaching orientations engineering professors possessed in teaching engineering courses and how the orientations were represented in their teaching. Six engineering professors, particularly interested in instructional approaches, participated in the research. The data sources included in-depth interviews with individual professors, classroom observations with field notes, and related documents. In results, four teaching orientations toward engineering courses were identified: 1) expert knowledge in engineering, 2) engineering practice, 3) social practice, and 4) interdisciplinary design. Individual professors had between one to three different teaching orientations. Even though the professors had similar orientations but their instructional strategies somewhat varied based on the disciplines.

• Journal of the Korean Chemical Society
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• v.66 no.1
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• pp.15-30
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• 2022

The purpose of this study was to examine interactions among components of pedagogical content knowledge of middle school science teachers in a teacher learning community targeting science practice-based instruction. Data collection consisted of pre and post questionnaire and interview with each of five science teachers, audio-recording of teacher discussion in a teacher learning community, lesson plans, teacher written reflection, and video-recording of teaching practice. Qualitative data analysis revealed that there were two types of interactions, i.e., one-way interaction and two-ways interaction among components of pedagogical content knowledge of science teachers in a teacher learning community. There were also consecutive interactions as well as one-shot interaction. For two-ways interaction there were synchronous two-ways interaction in a teacher learning community meeting as well as consecutive two-ways interaction along with several meetings. This study provides implications that collaborative learning context in a teacher learning community should stimulate various types interactions among components of pedagogical content knowledge.

• Journal of Korean Elementary Science Education
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• v.25 no.4
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• pp.430-453
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• 2006

The purpose of this study was to explore how an elementary school teacher developed PCK by utilizing her knowledge domains in teaching practice, regarding the specific science topic of 'animals:' A case study approach was adopted with the participation of a 1st grade teacher, in a poor urban neighborhood elementary school in NYC. Data was collected through interview and the participant observation method in order to investigate: a) the teacher's existing knowledge base in terms of subject matter knowledge, pedagogical knowledge and contextual knowledge; b) how she develops PCK during classroom practice, centering on the relationship between knowledge domains. The findings illustrate the ways in which the three knowledge domains are closely related and developed as PCK through the whole teaching process. In particular, the findings indicate that the teacher's contextual knowledge plays a critical role in shaping and developing PCK. Before instruction, her contextual knowledge regarding the administrative policies and the school test system in the district enabled her to make decisions and plans about teaching science. During classroom teaching, her knowledge of students' sociocultural backgrounds and living conditions in the urban setting helped her to identify specific teaching strategies and resources suitable to the students' needs and interests. The study results imply that science instruction can be more feasible in meeting the demands of particular groups of students if teachers make an effort to become knowledgeable about their own teaching context and utilize it in developing their PCK.

• The Journal of Korean Association of Computer Education
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• v.4 no.2
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• pp.135-143
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• 2001

Teachers' cognitive understanding of subject matter content have direct impact on the quality of students learning. In order to understand this, we need to investigate the relationships between the teachers' level of knowledge about the content and the instruction teacher provide for students. Professional development programs for computer education teachers include courses in computer science, curriculum studies, and the application of computers in the classroom. Effective teachers, however, have expertise in the subject matter content, know curriculum, and understand contextual knowledge for teaching computers in the classrooms. Although computer education have evolved for last 20 years, we have not yet made significant progress on researching "what" is the professional knowledge of computer teachers, and "how" they could be trained. Teacher's knowledge includes pedagogical and contextual knowledge of teaching the specific subject. The purpose of this paper is to understand the professional knowledge of computer teachers, and the adoption of PCK (pedagogical content knowledge). As a result of this paper, I hope to initiate further discussions and researches on PCK and its' implication for computer teachers and teacher preparation programs in Korea.

• Journal of The Korean Association For Science Education
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• v.28 no.6
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• pp.592-602
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• 2008

The purpose of this research is to explore types of pedagogical content knowledge (PCK, hereafter) for effective science teaching. In this research, we explored three science teachers' PCK on light, who were effective in teaching the topic with particular students. The data analysis consisted of identifying the three teachers' unique PCK and ways to improve each teaching episode through the teacher meetings. These analyses, which consisted of verbal exchanges among the participants, were identified on the basis of our understanding. Using grounded theory methods, the types of science PCK drawn from this research are: (1) teaching through curriculum reconstruction, (2) teaching to help students build their own explanation models about surrounding nature, (3) teaching for learning the social language of science, (4) teaching to motivate students' learning needs based on relevance of science to students, (5) teaching through lowering students' learning demand by providing scaffolding, (6) teaching based on the teacher's understanding of students, (7) teaching through inquiry with argumentation, (8) teaching through reification of abstract science concepts, and (9) teaching none marginalized science. Common features of science teachers with quality PCK and their professionalism in teaching are discussed.