The purpose of this study was to rethink the conceptualization of pedagogical content knowledge based on our descriptive research findings and to show how this new conceptualization helps us to understand teachers as professionals. This study was a multiple case study grounded in a social constructivist framework. Data were collected from multiple…

In the context of literacy being understood as an evolving concept, this article argues that a particular form of literacy, pedagogical literacy, is an important cognitive tool for a developed conceptualisation of pedagogical content knowledge and that, by extension, being "pedagogically" literate is an integral feature of being a professional…

Multiple views have been presented on how mathematical content knowledge should be taught in order to ensure quality instruction in the classroom. However, the ability to teach mathematics content is influenced by general pedagogy, pedagogical content knowledge and mathematical content knowledge. Nevertheless, all pedagogical competencies and…

Much has been said about what science content students need to learn (e.g., "Benchmarks for Science Literacy, National Science Education Standards"). Less has been said about what science content teachers need to know to teach the content students are expected to learn. This study analyzed four standards documents and assessment frameworks to…

Helping pre-service teachers to feel competent and courageous about the mathematics they will find themselves teaching as elementary school teachers is a critical component of any math methods course. This paper addresses this aim by highlighting a process that involves pre-service teachers in creating original mathematics literature books. This…

This practical handbook is designed to help anyone who is preparing to teach a world history course--or wants to teach it better. It opens with Peter Stearns's essay "Where Did World History Come From?" and closes with Jerry Bentley's annotated bibliographic guide to the essential content knowledge for teaching world history. In between,…

The lack of mathematical understanding of elementary preservice teachers with respect to many mathematical topics has been well documented. Far fewer studies have been conducted on any content area of knowledge of secondary teachers and even less in the mathematics content area. The assumption by the general population is that mathematics majors…

This Issue Brief, written through a collaboration between two federally funded technical assistance and research dissemination centers, the New York Comprehensive Center (NYCC) and the National Comprehensive Center for Teacher Quality (TQ Center), describes what "teaching as a clinical practice profession" means to those in the field of teacher…

The discussion of learning and teaching in this paper is based on data from a research project funded by the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) Teaching and Learning Research Programme (TLRP) programme. The research project is investigating the experiences of learning and working in further education colleges in Wales and the data used in…

This study examines inservice elementary school teachers' beliefs, attitudes, and practical knowledge toward inquiry-based science instruction and the influence of an inquiry-based elementary science course on teachers' beliefs, attitudes, and practical knowledge regarding inquiry. Both surveys and a case study were administered to the 14…

This paper analyses how the mathematical knowledge needed by a teacher has been described by several mathematics educators, all based on Shulman's notions of Subject Matter Knowledge and Pedagogical Content Knowledge. In particular, it looks at the notion of Mathematics Knowledge for Teaching, as elaborated by Ball and her research group. It then…

This paper traces the development over several years of an initiative involving student journals that was introduced into a tertiary science education course for pre-service teachers to promote enhanced learning of how to teach science. Very soon after introducing the journals into course work the lecturer began engaging in "unplanned"…

Analysis of our own experiences teaching in preservice teacher education programs leads us to a range of insights, issues, and questions associated with the potential of seeing teaching as a discipline. We begin with the reality that teaching and teacher education appear to students as easy activities, while those who actually do them see them as…

In this article, the students teachers' opinions, including rock formation and improper terms related to or different from these ideas, all of which are considered or must be considered in geology classes, have been analyzed. Alternative conception is used to inform our understanding of students teachers' ideas and describe any conceptual…

This article describes and analyzes a program of work in elementary mathematics teacher education at the University of Michigan that has, for a decade, been a site for the development of approaches to preparing beginning K-8 mathematics teachers that are both aimed at practice and centered in content. Among the products of this work are video…