The pedagogical content knowledge (PCK) of teachers influences students’ achievement of the learning outcomes. This study examined teachers’ perceived enactment of PCK in biology. The quantitative survey design was adopted by using a Likert-scale questionnaire consisting of six components of PCK, namely curricular saliency, students’ prior knowledge, what makes the subject easy or difficult, representations, conceptual teaching strategies, and assessment. Data on teachers’ perceived enacted PCK (ePCK) were collected from 54 biology teachers selected from 14 secondary schools in three districts of Lusaka province. The data were analyzed by computing descriptive and inferential statistics using Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) software. The findings revealed that: (a) respondents’ perceived ePCK was high (M = 4.29, SD = .37), (b) respondents’ perceived ePCK was not influenced by gender, teaching experience, and type of school, (c) respondents’ perceived ePCK was influenced by their academic qualifications, (d) the component students’ prior knowledge and misconceptions was the most enacted component, and (e) the component what makes the subject easy or difficult was the least enacted component. The results highlight areas in teachers’ PCK that require enhancement. The study recommends using teacher professional development to enhance teachers’ ePCK in the component what makes the subject easy or difficult to understand. Further research may use larger samples and more data sources to increase the validity of the findings.

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Since pedagogical content knowledge (PCK) influences the teaching-learning process, it has dominated research on teacher effectiveness. This case study explored teachers’ enacted topic-specific PCK (TSPCK) during the biology lesson study stages: planning, teaching, and reflecting. The enacted TSPCK in two video-recorded research lessons was analysed qualitatively. The results showed that the teacher enacted both high-order and low-order pedagogical actions in the enactment of the TSPCK on eight themes, namely: teaching strategies, classroom interactions, representations, curricular saliency, conceptual teaching strategies, students’ prior knowledge and misconceptions, and what makes teaching or learning difficult. The results also show that the teachers’ collective planned TSPCK was more developed than their personal TSPCK, indicating that participation in the lesson study improved the teachers’ TSPCK. The study is important as it shows how teachers enact their personal and collective TSPCK in respiration. It also demonstrates the potential of lesson study to improve teachers’ PCK through collaborative planning and reflection on taught lessons. The study recommends using lesson study to improve teachers’ enacted TSPCK in respiration, and biology as a whole. Keywords: enacted pedagogical content knowledge (ePCK), topic-specific pedagogical content knowledge (TSPCK), respiration, secondary school, lesson study

Since teachers’ pedagogical content knowledge (PCK) plays a vital role in attaining educational goals, it has become a favourable construct in science education research. Because students are more perceptive when evaluating teachers, this quantitative survey examined students’ perceptions of biology teachers’ enacted PCK (ePCK). The sample consisted of 319 students from six secondary schools in three districts of Lusaka province, Zambia. Data were collected using a Likert- scale questionnaire called “students’ perceptions of teachers’ enacted PCK” questionnaire. It had a Cronbach’s alpha value of 0.842, indicative of good reliability. Data were collected on six ePCK components: curricular saliency, what makes the subject easy or difficult to understand; conceptual teaching strategies; representations; students’ prior knowledge; and assessment. The findings revealed that the students perceived that their biology teachers’ ePCK was moderate (M=3.61, SD=0.47). While the component ‘students’ prior knowledge’ was the most enacted (M=4.01, SD=0.73), while ‘what makes the subject difficult to understand’ was the least enacted component (M=3.01, SD=0.77). Statistically significant differences were observed in students’ perceptions pertaining to the variables grade level and type of school but not gender. These findings suggest that students’ perceptions of the teachers’ ePCK may highlight areas that teachers may reflect on to improve their PCK and, hence, students’ learning. The implications of these findings on teaching and learning were discussed. The study recommends using students’ perceptions to evaluate teachers’ knowledge and the general teaching-learning process.