Tapping into the art of teaching: Unveiling pedagogical content mastery through a riveting case study

Abstract

This study aims to examine investigate variations in teachers’ perspectives regarding the pedagogical content knowledge acquired through the school experience in the pre-2018 curriculum for elementary mathematics teaching compared to its updated counterpart, now known as teaching practice in the current curriculum. In this direction, six teachers from the department of elementary mathematics teaching at the faculty of education of a university in Western part of Turkey were selected by criterion sampling method. A semi-structured interview form developed by the researchers was used as a data collection tool in the study in which holistic multiple case design, one of the qualitative research methods, was used. The data obtained were analyzed by content analysis. As a result of the research, it was found that the teachers who studied with the old program were inadequate compared to the teachers who studied with the updated program in terms of classroom management, communication with students teaching methods, skills to use techniques.