Who owns pedagogy? (Re)locating pedagogy and pedagogical content knowledge

This paper draws upon a study in Victoria, Australia which investigated pedagogical understandings and practices specific to three domains: Science, Thinking and ICT. Teachers working in these three domains and key stakeholders from the profession participated in focus group and individual interviews. This study explored the pedagogical knowledge particular to each of these three domains, and common pedagogical knowledges across the domains. Participants in each domain claimed the distinctive nature of their domain and therefore the distinctive nature of their pedagogical content knowledge (PCK). A final common thread was the identification of teacher strategies as a substantial part of pedagogy. The key issues arising from this study are the implications of ascribing pedagogy to particular disciplines and the future possibilities for a curriculum reform agenda within a regressive pedagogical climate.

The pedagogical content knowledge of Danish geography teachers in a changing schooling context

This study examines the self-reported, topic-specific professional knowledge (TSPK) of Danish geography teachers seen as an aspect of their pedagogical content knowledge (PCK) when teaching weather formation and climate change. This topic is considered representative of geography teaching in Denmark. In the last ten years Danish primary and lower-secondary schooling has undergone several significant changes, including the introduction of a final multiple-choice exam in geography in 2007, and a fundamental reconstruction of the curriculum in 2014. These changes are expected to influence the TSPK of geography teachers in ways that potentially have an impact on their classroom practice. Teachers´ responses to specific questions relating to their choice of learning goals and the content and organisation of their lessons show that geography teachers take into account not only the knowledge aspects which point to the final multiple-choice exam, but also the ‘bildung’ perspectives of the subject equipping students to develop their own opinions when dealing with socio-scientific issues (SSI).

Mathematical pedagogical content knowledge in early childhood education: A study in initial teacher education in Portugal

The study aims to explore the specificity of mathematics Pedagogical Content Knowledge in Early Childhood Education Pedagogy. The pedagogy of ECE (Siraj-Blatchford, 2010) and the didactics of ECE (Pramling & Pramling-Samuelsson, 2011) suggest dimensions of knowledge that require strong content and PC knowledge of teachers. Recent studies about PCK of ECE teachers highlight similar specific dimensions: organization of educational environment and interactions with children (Lee, 2010, McCray, 2008, Rojas, 2008). The current framework for ECE Teacher Education in Portugal (since 2007) focuses both content knowledge and subject didactics. PCK has been labelled the 'great unknown' in ECE (Rojas, 2008) in traditions where the child's development is considered as the main knowledge base for ECE (Chen & McNamee, 2006, Cullen, 2005, Hedges & Cullen, 2005). We studied the perspectives of 27 initial teacher education students about knowledge for teaching and about ECE Pedagogy. We used one open-ended questionnaire and students' analysis of episodes focusing children's answers or discourse relevant for mathematics (about high numbers and square root). The questionnaire was anonymous and students’ permission to use the answers was obtained. In the questionnaire, interactions with children (62%) and organization of the educational environment (38%) are highlighted as the most important focus for the teacher. Students suggested tasks that were adult planned and oriented to further the situations presented in the episodes. Very few references to children's exploratory actions (Bonawitz et al., 2011) were made. The specificity of ECE (child initiated activities, e.g.) needs to be further developed in initial teacher education.

Student's pedagogical knowledge: a source of pedagogical content knowledge

This paper presents the results of interviews with Year 5 and 6 students about their views of effective teaching practices in mathematics. The students interviewed were part of a largescale study into improving middle years mathematics and science. Their views confirm findings from the literature and other data sources from the project, and provide valuable insights into student perceptions of effective teaching practice in middle years mathematics.

Analyzing Elementary Preservice Teachers’ Development of Content and Pedagogical Content Knowledge in Mathematics through Microteaching Lesson Study

This study examines the effect of Microteaching Lesson Study participation on the mathematics content and pedagogical content knowledge of 52 elementary preservice teachers. Preliminary findings, which are positive, are discussed.

Facilitating growth in prospective teachers’ knowledge : teaching geometry in primary schools

This paper reports on a study that focused on growth of understanding about teaching geometry by a group of prospective teachers engaged in lesson plan study within a computer-supported collaborative learning (CSCL) environment. Participation in the activity was found to facilitate considerable growth in the participants’ pedagogical-content knowledge (PCK). Factors that influenced growth in PCK included the nature of the lesson planning task, the cognitive scaffolds inserted into the CSCL virtual space, the meta-language scaffolds provided to the participants, and the provision of both private and public discourse spaces. The paper concludes with recommendations for enhancing effective knowledge-building discourse about mathematics PCK within prospective teacher education CSCL environments.

Deepening the mathematical knowledge of secondary mathematics teachers who lack tertiary mathematics qualifications

A professional learning program for unqualified practising secondary mathematics teachers regarding senior secondary mathematics teaching is described in this paper. The VCE (Victorian Certificate of Education) mathematics professional learning program for senior secondary mathematics was designed for practising secondary teachers of mathematics who had no experience of teaching advanced senior secondary mathematics and who had not completed the recommended qualifications. Professional learning episodes, artefacts and reflections of three teachers who participated in the program are analysed to identify the development of these teachers' mathematical and pedagogical content knowledge (PCK). The PCK framework developed by Chick et al. was used to analyse teachers' knowledge, and the cases of teachers' knowledge presented in the paper illustrate the entwining of knowledge of mathematics and knowledge of teaching and learning The findings indicate that a program designed for senior secondary mathematics can enable practising teachers to deepen and broaden their understanding of junior secondary mathematical pedagogy.

Generic versus subject specific pedagogy - should mathematics be in the centre?

Research into pedagogy and school change is a high priority in Australia and many other countries. This paper, which includes some preliminary findings from the Improving Middle Years Mathematics and Science: The role of subject cultures in school and teacher change (IMYMS) project, argues that, while there are key features that are common to quality learning environments across all subject areas, generic formulations of pedagogy fail to take account of the extent to which the disciplines being taught shape pedagogy or the contribution of Pedagogical Content Knowledge (PCK) to effective teaching - i.e. that there really is a need to put "mathematics in the centre ".

Mathematically-rich interactions in early childhood centres

 This study investigated children’s engagement in mathematically-rich interactions in early childhood centres. While mathematically-rich interactions were found to be occurring with regular frequency, educators sometimes had difficulty identifying mathematical concepts in their planning. These findings may be used to inform the content of pre- and in-service early childhood education courses.

Effects of training peer tutors in content knowledge versus tutoring skills on giving feedback to help tutees’ complex tasks

This study aims to investigate the effectiveness of training tutors in content knowledge of a particular domain versus training them in tutoring skills of pedagogical knowledge when tutoring on a complex tutee task. Forty-seven tutor-tutee pairs of fourth year secondary school students were created and assigned to one of two treatments. Twenty-two tutors received training in content knowledge and the other twenty-five tutors in tutoring skills. Tutors formulated written feedback immediately after the training. Tutees first interpreted the tutor feedback and then used it to revise their research questions. The results showed that tutors trained in tutoring skills formulated more effective feedback than tutors trained in content knowledge. In addition, tutees helped by tutoring-skills tutors found the feedback more motivating than those helped by content- knowledge tutors. However, no differences were found in tutee performance on revision. The findings are discussed in terms of the set-up of this study and implications for improving the effectiveness of peer tutoring.