The influence of content knowledge on pedagogical content knowledge – the case of teaching photosynthesis and plant growth

Markku Käpylä (1) , Jussi-Pekka Heikkinen (2) , Tuula Asunta (1)

1 Department of Teacher Education [Jyväskylä]
2 Sapsokoski School

Abstract The aim of the research was to investigate the effect of the amount and quality of content knowledge on pedagogical content knowledge (PCK). The biological content photosynthesis and plant growth was used as an example. The research sample consisted of 10 primary and 10 secondary (biology) teacher students. Questionnaires, lesson preparation task and an interview were used to collect data. Primary student teachers' were not aware of students' conceptual difficulties and had problems in choosing the most important content. Neither of the groups had knowledge on suitable experiments and demonstrations, which indicates that PCK should be explicitly taught. The usefulness of PCK and some related constructs in initial teacher training is discussed. Keywords: Content knowledge, Pedagogical content knowledge, Photosynthesis and growth of plants, Primary student teachers, Secondary student teachers, Teacher education

Mots clés: Social Sciences & Humanities

Markku Käpylä, Jussi-Pekka Heikkinen, Tuula Asunta. The influence of content knowledge on pedagogical content knowledge – the case of teaching photosynthesis and plant growth. International Journal of Science Education, 2009, 31 (10), pp.1395-1415. ⟨10.1080/09500690802082168⟩. ⟨hal-00516231⟩