Learn about PCK

1. Outcomes:
• At the end of this session, students must be able to,
 Define PCK
 Discuss different teacher knowledge categories
 Explain the relationship between the learners’ learning styles and PCK

2. Class activity
Who will make a better science teacher?
1. MSc graduate with strong content knowledge and laboratory
research experience, but little teaching experience
OR
2. Graduate with an undergraduate education qualification and many
years science teaching experience

3. Teacher Knowledge
LET’S DISCUSS:
What is
PCK?
01
Why is
PCK
important?
02
How does
it differ
from CK?
03
Give
examples?
04

5. WHAT MAKES UP THE TEACHER’S PCK?

6. WHAT IS PEDAGOGICAL KNOWLEDGE?

7. Pedagogy

8. Content knowledge
• Refers to the knowledge of
meaningful and related
structures of discipline,
substantive knowledge to the
global structures or principles of
conceptual organization of a
discipline.
• It includes knowledge of facts,
concepts, and principles within a
content area and knowledge of
the relationships between them
(Ramnarain & Fortus, 2013. p4)

10. Shulman’s knowledge base categories
Content knowledge;-‘the amount and organisation of knowledge per se in the mind of the teacher’
General pedagogical knowledge;-“broad principles and strategies of classroom management and
organisation that appear to transcend subject matter” such knowledge includes ways of maintaining
appropriate discipline, using class time efficiently, and communicating instructions and expectations
clearly
Curriculum knowledge;-materials from which the teacher draws those tools of teaching that present or
exemplify particular content and remediate or evaluate the adequacy of student accomplishments”
Pedagogical content knowledge;-SMK for teaching”

11. Cont.
Knowledge of learners-
the prior knowledge of
the learners, formulate
representations that link
with their interests and
possess an understanding
of their diverse abilities
and ways of learning.
05
•Knowledge of
educational contexts-
“the workings of the
group or classroom, the
governance and
financing of school
districts, to the character
and communities of
culture”
06
•Knowledge of educational
ends, purposes and values-
draws on values and
purposes of education that
communities possess. It also
takes into account the effect
of the historical background
of the school or learning.
07

12. PCK
It represents the
blending/transformation of content and
pedagogy into an understanding of how
particular topics, problems, or issues are
organised, represented, and adapted to
the diverse interests and abilities of
learners, and presented for instruction.
•. . . the most useful forms of
representation of those ideas, the most
powerful analogies, illustrations,
examples, explanations, and
demonstrations–in a word, the ways of
representing and formulating the subject
that make it comprehensible to others.

13. HOW DO WE ENHANCE LEARNER
ENGAGEMENT?

14. Through catering for various learning styles…

15. Importance of PCK in science teaching
PCK is essential for effective teaching, science teaching included (Abell,
2007; Loughran et al., 2012).
Enables science teacher to determine aspects of particular topics that are
most difficult for learners to understand (Shulman,1986;1987).
Plays a vital role in the planning of the subject matter to be taught and
learnt (Clermont, Krajcik, & Borko, 1993; Smith & Neale, 1989; Van Driel,
Verloop, & De Vos, 1998).
Shapes the teachers’ acquisition of new instructional approaches and
strategies (Borko & Putnam, 1996; Smith & Neale, 1989) and in the process
influences the learning process (Carpenter, Fennema, Peterson, & Carey,
1988).

16. Continuity…….
 Because PCK is subject and topic specific, teachers develop appropriate
knowledge to teach the content in a particular way (Hashweh, 2005).
 Therefore PCK enables teachers to understand alternative ways of
representing knowledge so that it becomes more comprehensible to the
learners (Botha & Reddy, 2011).
 Enables teachers to identify analogies, metaphors, examples, similes,
demonstrations, simulations, manipulations and the most effective
communication strategies suitable for learners of particular background to
understand.
 Enables teachers to use suitable language, behaviour and explanations, to
make appropriate decisions in a particular science classroom setting.

17. Next lecture
Pedagogical representations: Discussion forums
• Homework Prep task:
Homework Task:
• Based on this YouTube video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nhuxzE016oU
1. Summarise the teaching strategies that are discussed in this video
2. Select a Physical Sciences topic (Grade 10) and illustrate how you
would teach it using one of the above-mentioned teaching strategies.
Provide an explanation on why the selected strategy is deemed
suitable for use in teaching that particular topic of your choice.