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Pedagogical content knowledge (PCK) is a much debated and studied construct. In this article, we adopt an all-embracing view of PCK to examine the development of one elementary science teacher's knowledge over a 10-year period. We portray this teacher's knowledge at three critical points in her career-as a student teacher, beginning teacher, and established teacher-and represent and analyze the growth of her science PCK using the metaphor of a knowledge tree. The tree metaphor shows that while science knowledge begins as the major branch of science PCK, it is soon overshadowed by the general teaching and interactive knowledge branches of science PCK; however, taken together, all three branches contribute over time to the formation of a healthy, established tree of science PCK. ß

This Australian study describes the experiences offive mature-age preservice teachers in a semester unit of science education. The unit was designed to help teachers examine and make explicit their ideas about science and science teaching and consider ways in which they might put those ideas into practice. The preservice teachers expressed a needfor a supportive learning environment in which concepts were built gradually and introduced using concrete examples. Previous science experience wasfound to be a major influence on the attitudes the participants brought to the present course. Changing attitudes to science during the preservice experience is seen as an important step in breaking the cycle of the impoverished state ofelementary science.

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