Exploring the Underlying Components of Primary School Teachers’ Pedagogical Content Knowledge for Technology Education

Abstract

In the study described in this article, primary school teachers' pedagogical content knowledge (PCK) of technology education was measured with a multiple choice test; the Teaching of Technology Test (TTT). The aim of the study was to explore the latent factor structure of PCK, which is considered to be a crucial and distinctive domain of teacher knowledge. As far as known, it is the first time that PCK is approached in this way. Many different components of PCK have been proposed in an attempt to define the concept, but these components have never been statistically confirmed. Three components were selected as the main knowledge components of PCK for technology education in primary schools: (1) Knowledge of pupils' concept of technology and knowledge of their pre and misconceptions related to technology; (2) Knowledge of the nature and purpose of technology education; (3) Knowledge of pedagogical approaches and teaching strategies for technology education. The results of this study gave useful insights into primary school teachers' PCK of technology education. It appeared that the theoretically predefined knowledge components could be indentified as latent factors. Furthermore, PCK could be characterized as a heterogeneous construct. That is, it consists of many intrinsic elements, which are difficult to unravel. Although measurement of PCK with a multiple-choice test has clear-cut advantages compared to qualitative methods and the results of the TTT are promising, further steps should be taken to reach satisfactory psychometric properties for practical application. This article provides ideas on how to (further) develop a multiple choice test to measure PCK.

Primary Teachers’ Knowledge for Teaching Ratio and Proportion in Mathematics: The Case of Indonesia

“…In terms of MPCK, synthesizing the stream of the description of MPCK by Kwong et.al (2007), there were four parts of MPCK used in this study such as Knowledge about teaching the concept (include giving feedback); Knowledge about students" understanding of the concept; Knowledge about level of task and Knowledge about the appropriate teaching approach for students understanding. This is in line with PCK framework in another discipline like Technology Education, Rohaan et al (2011) distinguished three factors on PCK such as knowledge of pupils" concept, pre and misconception related to technology; knowledge the nature and purpose of technology education; Knowledge of pedagogical approaches and teaching strategies.…”

Use of the Rasch measurement model to explore the relationship between content knowledge and topic-specific pedagogical content knowledge for organic chemistry

“…A number of studies using specially designed instruments which attempt to measure teachers' PCK have been reported in the literature. These include work by Rohaan, Taconis, and Jochems (2011) in technology education, Gramzow et al (2013) in physics and Jüttner et al (2013) in biology. Similar studies in chemistry have focussed on foundational topics (Tepner & Dollny, 2014), chemical equilibrium (Mavhunga & Rollnick, 2013) and electrochemistry (Rollnick & Mavhunga, 2014).…”

Inquiry-Based Teaching in Physical Science: Teachers’ Instructional Practices and Conceptions

“…Science is still being taught from the perspectives of normal logical positivism, with more emphasis on the mastery of abstract concepts and principles, and little connection with day-to-day lived experiences of students (Kyle, 2006;Onwu & Kyle, 2011). Common constraints to implementing inquiry environments include: inadequate content knowledge, inadequate knowledge of the Nature of Science(NOS) and lack of pedagogical skills (Hashweh, 1996;Lederman, 2007).There seems consensus among researchers in science education that in order to foster students' higher-level thinking, teachers must possess not only in-depth content knowledge, but also a good pedagogical knowledge on how to develop students' higher-order thinking in the context of the subject matter they are dealing with (Shulman, 1986;Roohan, Taconis & Jochems, 2011;Mudau, 2013;Park & Oliver, 2008;Rollnick et al, 2008;Lederman, 2009;Lederman et., al, 2014).This puts teacher's craft as the ultimate variable in the classroom practice for students' learning.…”