Pedagogical content knowledge development in teaching science: A case study of an elementary school teacher in an urban classroom.

摘要

This study aims to explore an elementary school teacher's Pedagogical Content Knowledge (PCK) development in teaching science to racial minorities and economically disadvantaged students in New York City. By taking into account the sociocultural issues of teaching science in urban areas, this study focuses on 'contextual knowledge' as a key component of PCK. In this study, PCK is conceptualized as transformed knowledge of subject matter, pedagogy, and context, which makes subject learning suitable for students in particular settings. In order to investigate the teacher's PCK development, this study first examines her existing knowledge base of PCK in terms of three knowledge domains, and then observes her PCK development through the relationship between contextual knowledge and other two knowledge domains during classroom practices.; A case study method was used to obtain a holistic and in-depth understanding of the teacher's PCK development. Data were collected in the form of teacher interview, participant observation, documentation, and physical artifacts, to enrich the case, and was analyzed in an inductive process.; Findings illustrate the ways that the three knowledge domains are related and developed as PCK through the whole teaching process. Specifically, the findings indicate that the teacher's contextual knowledge plays a critical role in shaping and developing PCK. The teacher's contextual knowledge about the administrative policies and school test system in the district facilitated her to make a decision and plan to teach science before the instruction. During the classroom teaching, her knowledge about students' sociocultural backgrounds and living conditions in an urban setting helped her to identify specific teaching strategies and resources suitable to students' needs and interests.; These findings imply that science teaching can be meaningful in coping with the demands of diverse learning populations if teachers make an effort to become knowledgeable about their own teaching context and utilize such knowledge in developing their PCK. This study particularly hopes to empower teachers in urban areas, who strive to meet the challenges of making science more comprehensive to socioculturally-disadvantaged students.