Oxidation Communications 38, No 1A, 540557 (2015)

Students attitude to astronomy, chemistry, biology

EXAMINING THE PEDAGOGICAL CONTENT KNOWLEDGE

OF SCIENCE TEACHERS WHO HAVE DIFFERENT TEACHING
EXPERIENCE ABOUT ACIDS AND BASES
M. DURANa, M. USAKb*
Faculty of Education, Bozok University, Yozgat, Turkey
Faculty of Education, Gazi University, Ankara, Turkey
E-mail: musaktr@gmail.com

ABSTRACT
The purpose of this study is to analyse the development of pedagogical content
knowledge of science teachers with different teaching experience on acids and bases.
Multiple case study method was used in the study. The research was carried out with
the participation of six science teachers with different teaching experience. In the
selection of participants, teaching the subject of acid and bases at least once, three
and ten times, and being willing to participate in the study were the required criteria.
Face to face interviews, video observation, pedagogical content knowledge form,
classroom observation form and academic follow-up form are the assessment tools
that were used in the study. The reliability of the data in measuring tools was tested by
statistical package software. With the findings from qualitative data, it was determined
that teaching experience of science teachers with different teaching experience has a
positive impact on their pedagogical content knowledge. Although experienced teachers in the profession, compared to less experienced teachers, have better pedagogical
content knowledge in teaching the subject of acid and bases, majority of the teachers
have problems with the transmission of the content knowledge. Especially for the
subjects, which are difficult to learn, a common strategy for the presentation of these
subjects in verbal, numerical and visual ways could not be found. The teachers lack of
knowledge in knowing and recognising the student, which is one of the components
of pedagogical content knowledge, was identified. It was identified that experienced
teachers, compared to novice teachers, have a better level of recognising the students
and in-class communication skills. Besides, it was determined that experienced teachers produce more sufficient materials in assessment and evaluation of the success than
less experienced teachers. With the findings from the study, concrete proposals have

For correspondence.

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been made for the curriculum of teacher training institutions, educational researchers,
school managements and the ones who lead the educational policies.
Keywords: acids and bases, pedagogical content knowledge, teaching experience.
AIMS AND BACKGROUND
It goes without any doubt that education has a significant role in development of societies. A higher number of educated individuals carry a society to a higher position
in the world ranking of developed countries. Due to this fact, developed countries
allocate a significant share of their resources to education. As for our country, a significant amount of investments has been made recently. However, it is still controversial
whether these investments achieved the expected success or not. The consideration
asserting that especially in science education, students in our country are not at the
optimum level compared to other developing and developed countries is strengthened
by the results of national and international research studies. This relative failure in
science education brings about severe criticism against the education system, processes and qualifications of teachers by many people from every walk of life. Most
of this criticism is teacher-oriented. The common ground in this situation is the consideration that teachers cannot implement science education sufficiently. However,
it is indispensable for teachers to be qualified enough in their subject area in order
for an efficient education. Studies about the qualification of teachers and upskilling
methods are conducted both in our country and in the world in order to improve the
efficiency of education.
The work of learning and teaching is a long-term process. Although it is generally
thought that teachers, the key factors of this process, have sufficient knowledge of
curricular contents and concepts, researchers suggest that a good content knowledge
alone cannot make a teacher qualified enough13. According to a vast majority of researchers, the knowledge to be learned in order to teach a specific lesson is always a
question of debate. While some of researches support the significance of knowledge
of basic contents with reference to the idea one who does not know, can not teach,
some others put emphasis on the fact that pedagogical content knowledge (PCK) is
a relatively significant factor.
What a teacher should acknowledge in order to teach something has been a controversial issue for a long time. However, in the first half of 1980s Shulman claimed
that he had a special synthesis of both content knowledge and pedagogical knowledge
of a teacher and entitled this knowledge as Pedagogical Content Knowledge (PCK)4.
Shulman regarded PCK as a special form and type of content knowledge and identified that as different forms of knowledge for teaching. With reference to this idea,
PCK was described as a special part and type of knowledge that distinguish content
experts (basic sciences expert) from content teaching experts (subject teacher)5. In
this respect, a science teacher should have a different pedagogical content knowledge
than a social sciences or mathematics teacher has. For instance, science teachers are
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required to have knowledge of specific teaching method and strategies together with
the assessment and evaluation methods related to some topics such as acids and bases.
Although there is a huge number of researchers studying on science education
that examined pedagogical content knowledge of secondary school teachers68, the
researches on pedagogical content knowledge of elementary school teachers and
other specific contents are not sufficient1. According to Appleton and Kindt1, as the
primary school science teachers have multiple disciplines for teaching (such as physics,
chemistry and biology), they focus on developing knowledge of their own subjects
and they cannot find opportunities in order to develop their pedagogical content
knowledge about these multiple disciplines and as a consequence their pedagogical
content knowledge remains limited1. As both science teachers and other teachers
studying on different disciplines were subjected in this research, it is expected from
the results to give significant clues to be used in comparison of their pedagogical
content knowledge in teaching acids and bases.
Abell6 states that PCK is a topic that will further its actuality as long as the teaching process continues because they believe that the researchers do not have sufficient
information about the pedagogical content knowledge of teachers. Besides, being a
science topic-specific context, acids and bases having abstract concepts of science
that are difficult to be taught and learned will contribute to the literature about PCK
of scince teachers.
The purpose of this study is to research the effects of content knowledge, knowledge of teaching-learning difficulties, teaching methods and strategies knowledge,
assessment and evaluation knowledge of science teachers with different teaching
experiences on developing their pedagogical content knowledge.
Given the lack of studies especially on the effects of acids and bases on PCK
development of teachers, it is thought that findings to be obtained within this study
will compensate for a significant deficiency in body of literature.
The data collection tools developed for this study are significant as they can be
used in order for other researches on science education and will contribute to practices
of teachers.
Research question. This study seeks answer for the following question: How are the
pedagogical content knowledge of science teachers with different teaching experiences in teaching acids and bases?
Besides, this research study tends to answer the questions about the levels of
teachers content knowledge and the relationship between teaching experience and
pedagogical content knowledge, the effects of teaching experience on their knowledge
of students understanding, knowledge of teaching methods and strategies and their
knowledge of assessment and evaluation.
What is a qualified teacher? The main emphasis in most of the research studies
conducted on the formation of a real understanding is the need for diverting students
from just memorising knowledge and procedures to developing science concepts and
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associating various indications of these concepts with the real world. In other words,
research studies centre upon how and to what extent students can implement their
theoratical knowledge within the real life and the practicability of this knowledge
rather than its abundance. In order to facilitate this situation of science education,
teachers should have a strong knowledge base including the content knowledge of
science, knowledge about student learning and pedagogical knowledge.
Within the body of literature, pedagogical content knowledge (PCK) is described
as the eligible teaching skill of a teacher in the related area. This description was introduced by Shulman3,4 in the midst of 1980s. Shulman states that the general concept of
a teacher knowledge is composed of content knowledge, pedagogical content knowledge and curricular knowledge and adds that teachers who specialise in a specific area
should be separated from content domain experts. The fundamental principles, rules
and concept organisation, knowledge generation and approval processes constitute the
content knowledge. Pedagogical content knowledge, the intersection of content and
pedagogical knowledge, creates the second domain of a teacher knowledge. Shulman3,4
says that the content knowledge of teachers develops together with their pedagogical
content knowledge. As their content knowledge develops, teachers create efficient
strategies on teaching with highly strong analogies and proper representational skills
in order to enhance the understanding of students.
Content knowledge. Content knowledge deals with the teaching process, including
the ways of representing and formulating the subject that make it comprehensible to
others3. This type of knowledge has a high potential to affect how a science teacher
teaches a related content-specific to students and develop experience and strategies in
order for a better understanding. According to Shulman4, PCK includes explaining the
subject area in novel ways and reorganising the related area and includes the subject
matter together with activities, metaphors, exercises, examples and presentations.
Thus, the information on the subject becomes clear for the understanding of students.
The knowledge of students understandings (teaching learning difficulty knowledge).
Many researchers state that students come to the learning environment together with
their previous knowledge, experience and habits. With reference to this idea we can say
that students mostly are not vacant when they come to the classroom and they bring
their former knowledge and experience that may cause some misunderstandings. As
for the teachers, prior knowledge of students and their potential learning difficulties
related to the subject is stated as a necessity911.
Teaching method and strategy knowledge. Researchers studying on the profession of
teaching refer to five fundamental units of teaching. These can be listed as: student,
purpose, subject area, teacher and teaching method and strategy. It is known fact
that the method and strategies used by a teacher can affect the attitude, success and
perception of students12.
The teaching strategy knowledge of science teachers is described with two subcategories. These are discipline-specific knowledge and content-specific knowledge.
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In order to clarify the term discipline-specific, we can say that the strategy knowledge
to be created by a teacher for the science subjects and experiment and activities to be
conducted can be given as an example for this kind of knowledge. As for the contentspecific knowledge we can use the knowledge of a teacher about misconceptions of
students related to the subject of acids and bases as an example.
There is a positive relationship between the teaching strategy to be used by a
teacher and a student profound understanding of a subject and capability of implementing. Trigwell et al.13 state that there is also a strong relationship between the studentoriented education and effective learning. We can infer from all these arguments above
that the most important role of a teacher in the effective teaching process is guiding
the student towards reaching the information rather than being only a transmitter. For
this reason, teachers should be aware of the teaching strategies that will encourage
students to be active and improve their levels of considering14.
Assessment knowledge. The assessment and evaluation knowledge, which is highly
significant for obtaining the data to be used as a mainstay for a decision about students
within the education process, is also a difficult and demanding work15. It is because of
the fact that teachers are obliged to assess and evaluate the students in a classroom in
terms of school responsibility with various purposes. These purposes are to determine
to what extent the student is ready for a certain subject, whether the student has the
attitude planned to be taught, to understand whether the targeted attitudes related to
the determined subject are completely learned, to create data for student tracking and
to reward their personal talents.
Teachers can use conventional assessment and evaluation methods such as multiple-choice exams and tests with short answers, written and oral examinations apart
from the teaching process, relatively concentrating on student outcome or alternative
assessment and evaluation methods used throughout not just the beginning and ending
but the whole learning process together with teacher regulatory and directive role.
EXPERIMENTAL
As the method of this study, case study method that is a part of qualitative research
methodology was used. Through case study method, it is aimed to obtain an in-depth
view about an existing situation. Depending on the definitive character of case study
method, it is aimed to obtain an in-depth knowledge about the topic by creating categories and sub-categories with the help of inferences to be made from interviews
with the attendants and observations.
This study can be regarded as a single study case in terms of determining teachers
pedagogical content knowledge and as multiple case-studies in terms of including
different methods used by science teachers with different experiences to be used in
order to improve themselves and different ways used by them in order to create their
own knowledge.

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Participants. This study was implemented with 6 science teachers working in state
schools under National Education Ministry for the 8th grade classes in Yenimahalle
district of Ankara.
The most significant criterion for choosing the participants was the teachers
years of experience for teaching acids and bases. Teaching experience was regarded
as a significant criterion due to the study aim to examine changes in pedagogical
content knowledge of teachers in teaching acids and bases. For this reason, teachers
were categorised as having experience of five, ten and more than ten years and this
categorisation was used as a criterion for the selection of participants.
Maximum variation sampling was used in order to provide data variety during
the selection process of the work group. By this way, it was aimed to find out common or different aspects of different situations and describing the existing situation
from a broad perspective by finding clues about the values of population of the study
without generalising about a heterogeneous group of individuals15.
Characteristics of the attendants. Four of the attendants graduated from science
teaching, one teacher from chemistry teaching and the other from biology teaching
departments. Two of the attendants are in their 2nd and 5th year of experiences and
taught acids and bases topic at least once within this period. The other two teachers
have experiences of 7 and 9 years in science teaching and each of these teachers taught
acids and bases topic at least 3 times within their careers. The other two teachers within
the last group have experiences of more than ten years and taught acids and bases topic
at least ten times. The attendants of the study are coded as T1, T2, T3, T4, T5 and T6.
Data collection tools. A pedagogical content knowledge evaluation form, in-class
observation form, semi-structured interview form and video records were used as
the data collection tools in order to evaluate PCK information of the science teachers
subjected in this study. The information about data collection tools are given in Table 1.
Table 1. Data collection tools

Data collection tools

Pedagogical content knowledge
evaluation form
Classroom observation form
Video records

Interview

PCK components to be evaluated

content knowledge
assessment and evaluation knowledge
teaching method and strategy knowledge
teachin-learning difficulty knowledge
classroom management
method and strategy knowledge
classroom management
pedagogical knowledge
content knowledge
considering individual differences
following concept hierarchy
assessment and evaluation knowledge
teaching-learning difficulty knowledge

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Pedagogical content knowledge questionnaire form. A PCK assessment questionnaire

form was prepared with open ended questions in order to measure pedagogical content
knowledge of teachers. With these questions, it is aimed to measure some knowledge
domains such as content knowledge of teachers towards acids and bases subject,
teaching-learning difficulty knowledge, their assessment and evaluation knowledge,
conceptual knowledge, knowledge of conceptual mistakes and the sources of these
mistakes, knowledge of determining conceptual misunderstandings, experimentobservation knowledge.
The all of 40 open ended questions were prepared depending on suggestions of
such researchers37 in order to measure PCK of teachers. These questions are related
to subject matter knowledge (20), knowledge of teaching-learning difficulties (10),
knowledge of teaching method and strategies (5) and assessment and evaluation knowledge (5). Physics, biology and a science lecturer examined aforementioned questions
together with two experts in chemistry teaching. With reference to the suggestions of
these experts, an editing process was conducted, some questions were eliminated and
a PCK evaluation form was created with 25 questions.
Classroom observation form. The class observation form was prepared in deference
to Teaching Practice Course Class Observation Form belonging to YOK (Council of
Higher Education) and other resources about class observation1620.
Some other experts in the same subject area were asked to analyse the first version
of the observation form with 25 questions. Considering the ideas of these experts,
the last version of the form was prepared with 20 questions. These five questions
were eliminated from the measuring tool for the fear that they were not sufficient for
obtaining the information about curriculum knowledge wholesomely.
Within the evaluation of items in the class observation form, the best practices
and clear acts of teacher was evaluated as 5 points, while the failures or unpracticed
acts were as 0 point.
Video records. Video records became a significant data source for the researchers in the
analysis of teacher-student relations in classroom environment. The live observation
conducted in a classroom is limited with the notes taken by the observer. Likewise,
although control lists are beneficial for observing the classroom, the observers are
not sufficient for recording every detail. That is because a lot of incidents happen in
a short while and one of these short-time incidents may have a high potential for being a significant data source. However, the situation is otherwise for video records.
The reason is that video records can be stopped, forwarded and backwarded swiftly
and played again21.
Video records will be used as the data source of the topics taught by the participant teachers within the scope of acids and bases unit. The PCK subdomain level of
science teachers who have different teaching experinces will be tried to be revealed
by video records.

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Interview. According to Merriam22 and Yin23, an interview is one of the most fundamental data sources in order for a better understanding of the study in qualitative
researches. Interview is a significant data source in PCK studies due to the fact that
the most appropriate way of obtaining data about teachers opinions related to the
components of pedagogical content knowledge. That is the only way of understanding
teachers opinions about an effective teaching.
In interviews, teachers were just asked about the unclear parts that were not clarified through other measuring tools. The interview form was prepared by the researcher
together with a consultant.
Data collection. Data collection was made mostly during the classes in subjected
schools. However, questionnaires were conducted in teachers free times. Video records were made during the regular times of classes showing attention to preserving
the natural class environment. Data collection process was extended over a long-term
period and multiple analyses were made for a same situation. The collected data was
read by other experts in different disciplines and the similarity of results was examined.
VALIDITY AND RELIABILITY OF RESEARCH

Validity. Multiple data sources such as observation, interview and document analysis
were used in order to provide the construct validity of this study. The case study report
was crosschecked with the ideas of an institution taking part in data collection process.
By this way, it was aimed to minimise subjective judgments of the researcher22,23.
In-class observation forms were kept and significant details were noted during video
recordings. The accuracy of this information was controlled by the interviews with
teachers, sharing the notes with other teachers and interviews with group leader and
students. The video records were watched multiple times together with the adviser
in order to prove the validness of the data towards teachers knowledge about PCK
components. With this way, the internal validity of the study was ensured by a common evaluation of observation, interview and video records.
Reliability. Reliability is related to other researches and the similarity of results and
cannot be considered independently of the validity23. It is seen that the reliability
increasing principles asserted by different researchers are mostly similar to the ones
for the validity. The measures in order to increase the reliability in qualitative studies
can be listed as triangulation, control of data, long periods of observations, analyses
conducted by other researchers24,25.
The reliability of this study was proven by a triangulation composed of data
collecting from different sources, extending the study over a long period of time and
getting approvals of other experts.

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ANALYSIS OF QUALITATIVE DATA

The fundamental data sources of this research study were evaluation forms, questionnaires, video records, interviews and observations. The documents used by teachers
during classes were assessed as written sources when there is a need.
The Cronbach alpha internal consistency values of the questions in PCK evaluation form and also questions about the content knowledge and teaching methods
were measured separately. The Cronbach alpha coefficients of all questions in PCK
evaluation form was 0.802, while the ones of questions about the content knowledge
and teaching methods were calculated as 0.753 and 0.889, respectively. According
to these results, we can say that PCK evaluation form is a reliable data collection
tool. The alpha coefficient calculation was made for the questions about assessment
and evaluation and learning-teaching difficulties because of their different evaluation
criteria. The reliability of such questions was determined by the raters consensus.
Vanderstoep et al.26 state that any consensus on observed acts achieved by researchers
proves a high reliability for subject scale.
Through video records, science teachers were evaluated by the raters (researcher
and thesis advisor) about the sub-domain of PCK. 14 sub-dimensions related to
content knowledge (4), learning-teaching difficulties (3), assessment knowledge (4)
and method and strategy knowledge (3) were analysed. The interrater reliability and
internal consistency of the results were examined and given in Table 2.
Table 2. Results of interraters reliability and internal consistency reliability of video records

Content
knowledge
Interraters reliability
(in-group correlation
coefficient)

0.618

Internal consistency reliability (the Cronbach

alpha coefficient)

0.744

TeachingTeaching Assessment
learning method and and evaluadifficulty
strategy tion knowlknowledge knowledge
edge
0.862
0.908
0.908

0.915

0.952

0.952

Total

0.951

0.782

As it is seen in Table 2, all the points obtained through the evaluation of video
records conducted by the researcher and expert raters are compatible with each other.
It is seen that in-group correlation coefficient is 0.60 or more than this value and there
is a consensus among raters on this result27. Internal consistency (the Cronbach alpha
coefficient) of the items given in the assessment table is at a good level for one of the
items (0.70 < <0.75) and perfect for the others ( > 0.80).

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RESULTS
In this section, all of the participant teachers were examined separately. PCK of these
teachers were analysed through measuring tools and compared with each other. The
content knowledge, knowledge of teaching-learning difficulties, knowledge of teaching
method and strategy, assessment and evaluation knowledge, that are the resources of
science teachers to be used in their PCK development were examined with the data
obtained through measuring tools.
ANALYSIS OF T1

Pedagogical content knowledge about acids and bases. T1 is the least-experinced

teacher. T1 performs the teaching by making presentations and with a teacher-oriented
approach. Although his in-class relations with students are not strong, his domination
in class is well enough. It can also be said that he is a teacher who has difficulty in
timing, has a conventional approach in assessment and evaluation, is incompetent
to considering students prior knowledge and difficulties and inadequate about the
content knowledge, strategy knowledge and practice. The aforementioned teacher is
not successful enough in terms of helping students and providing protection of the
laboratory in empirical studies. The measurements about T1 pedagogical content
knowledge are given in Table 3.
Table 3. T1 PCK components

Subject matter knowledge

Highly limited
Concepts include
scientific errors
Information is insufficient and unclear

Teaching learning
difficulty knowledge
knowledge about
students is limited
superficial in
teaching-learning
difficulties
insufficient and
limited in targeted
practices

Teaching method and

strategy knowledge
has a limited
knowledge in conducting teaching
methods and strategies that are needed
to understand science
specific subject and
concepts

Assessment and
evaluation knowledge
limited
diagnostic
conventional assessment

ANALYSIS OF T2

Pedagogical content knowledge about acids and bases subject. T2 had a teaching
method that is both teacher and student oriented. His in-class management and relations
with the students were proved to be well enough by T2 attitudes as making students
participate in classes actively, being fair among students about giving the word, compensating deficiencies through feedbacks. T2 was also observed to use rich diversity of
teaching materials. His in-class relations were proved to be well by such capabilities
as having a command of his subject and timeous classes, complying with the criteria
on assessment and evaluation, embellishing classes with up-to-date examples.
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Taking the hierarchy of concepts into account in education has a significant role
in order for the students to perceive and interiorize a concept. That is because science
is defined as a complement of systematic knowledge and formed by the classification of knowledge28. According to Cepni et al.28, classification facilitates the learning
process in science. Because of this fact, subjects and the concepts and principles under
a subject are all arranged in a hierarchic order. It was observed that T2 paid utmost
attention to this hierarchy of concepts (Table 4).
Table 4. T2 PCK components

Subject matter knowledge

Well enough
Concepts partly
have scientific errors
Information is correct and explanatory

Teaching learning
difficulty knowledge
knowledge about
students is well
satisfactory about
knowledge of
teaching-learning
difficulties
targeted practices
are mid-range

Teaching method and

strategy knowledge
has sufficient
knowledge about
conducting teaching
method and strategies that are needed
to understand science
specific subject and
concepts

Assessment and
evaluation knowledge
mid-range
diagnostic
conventional assessment

ANALYSIS OF T3

Pedagogical content knowledge about acids and bases subject. T3 adopted a teacheroriented teaching method and relied heavily on books during the classes. It can be
said that this teacher did not use of technology sufficiently in teaching. His in-class
planning and management was not improved enough. He had a diagnostic knowledge
about assessment and evaluation. It can also be said that he did not pay attention to the
hierarchy of concepts but adopted a learn-by-rote approach. He also used alternative
methods in addition to conventional ones.
T3 used such teaching methods as laboratories, trips and dramas that are commonly practiced in teaching sciences. Teaching concepts through experiments conducted in laboratories make a significant contribution to students reasoning, critical
thinking, problem solving ability, developing positive attitudes towards sciences2830.
It can also be said that T3 was not sufficient for providing laboratory safety and making students practice in laboratory environment (Table 5).

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Table 5. T3 PCK components

Subject matter knowledge

Well enough
Concepts partly
have scientific errors
Information is correct and explanatory

Teaching learning
difficulty knowledge
knowledge about
students is well
satisfactory about
knowledge teachinglearning difficulties
targeted practices
are mid-range

Teaching method and

strategy knowledge
has sufficient
knowledge about
conducting teaching
methods and strategies that are needed
to understand science
specific subject and
concepts

Assessment and
evaluation knowledge
mid-range
diagnostic
has not sufficient
knowledge about alternative assessment

ANALYSIS OF T4

Pedagogical content knowledge about acids and bases subject. T4 was a teacher who
had a teacher-oriented approach, strong in-class relations and who could use body
language efficiently. However, his assessment knowledge was not improved enough
and he used conventional methods too often. His subject knowledge is sufficient but
he could not give satisfactory answers to the students questions about specific subjects. Having education of science teaching, T4 had difficulties in answering detailed
questions about acids and bases. This situation is compatible with the statement of
Appleton1 that is as primary science teachers have multiple subjects to study (physics, chemistry and biology), they focus on developing their own specific disciplines.
He mostly used dramas as his teaching strategy. He also adopted a normal expression and some visual and audial factors like videos (Table 6). It was determined that
using creative drama in science teaching facilitates the learning process, improves the
permanence of information and makes students perceive the nature of sciences30,31.
Table 6. T4 PCK components

Subject matter knowledge

Well enough
Concepts are scientifically correct
Information is correct and explanatory

Teaching learning
difficulty knowledge
knowledge about
students is well
satisfactory about
knowledge of
teaching-learning
difficulties
targeted practices
are well

Teaching method and

strategy knowledge
has sufficient
knowledge about
conducting teaching
method and strategies that are needed
to understand science
specific subject and
concepts

Assessment and
evaluation knowledge
mid-range
diagnostic
has a partial knowledge of assessment
and evaluation

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ANALYSIS OF T5

Pedagogical content knowledge about acids and bases subject. T5 used teaching
strategies appropriately and correctly, had a diagnostic and descriptive assessment and
evaluation approach. He paid attention to prior knowledge of students and adopted
a manner in which the inquiry teaching method is practiced in accordance with the
principles of life-oriented approach. He could use teaching methods appropriately,
timely and sufficiently. It can be said that he was perfect at in-class timing and lesson
planning (Table 7).
Table 7. T5 PCK components

Subject matter knowledge

Outstanding
Concepts are scientifically correct and
precise
Information is correct and sufficiently
explanatory

Teaching learning
difficulty knowledge
knowledge about
students is excellent
excellent at knowledge of teachinglearning difficulties
targeted practices
are well enough

Teaching method and

strategy knowledge
has excellent
knowledge about
conducting teaching
method and strategies that are needed
to understand science
specific subject and
concepts
using hidden curriculum knowledge

Assessment and
evaluation knowledge
excellent
diagnostic and
descriptive
has knowledge of
alternative assessment

ANALYSIS OF T6

Pedagogical content knowledge about acids and bases subject. T6 taught with a
teacher-oriented approach, conducted closed end experiments but could not provide
sufficient laboratory safety environment, did not pay attention enough to personal
differences of students and did not conduct in-class assessment and evaluations. He
also was not sufficient for lesson planning and timing (Table 8).
Table 8. T6 PCK components

Content knowledge

Teaching learning
difficulty knowledge
Well enough
knowledge about
Concepts are scien- students is well
tifically correct
good at knowledge
Information is cor- of teaching-learning
rect and explanatory difficulties
targeted practices
are well

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Teaching method and

strategy knowledge
good at using
teaching method and
strategies that are
needed to understand
science specific subject and concepts

Assessment and
evaluation knowledge
well enough
diagnostic and
explanatory
has knowledge of
alternative assessment

PCK components of all subjected teachers were assessed through measurement

tools and detailed information was obtained. Each of content knowledge, teachin-learning difficulty knowledge, teaching method and strategy knowledge and assessment
knowledge was measured out of 100 points. Obtained numeric data was graphed in
Fig. 1 in order to compare teaching experiences with the changes in these components.

Fig. 1. Total comparison of teachers PCK components

It is observed in the figure that content knowledge of teachers is increasing in

direct proportion to their teaching experinces.
Teachers knowledge of teaching method and strategies differs from their teaching
experiences. While the method and strategy knowledge of first five teachers that increased in direct proportion to their experiences, the one of T6 was disconcertingly low.
Knowledge of teaching-learning difficulties has almost no relation with teaching
experience. However, the rate of T5 is high contrary to others and it might have been
caused by some other factors not included within the study.
It can be said that the rates of assessment and evaluation knowledge of all subjected teachers except for T5 are out of proportion to their teaching experiences. Both
novice and experienced teachers have problems in assessment knowledge.
DISCUSSION

The results of this study indicate that content knowledge is not complete in itself and
includes different features and relations. It was concluded that measuring teachers
content knowledge and following their developments require long-term efforts and
specific methods. The evaluation of this knowledge also necessitates various data
and factors.
It was determined that teachers with a broader knowledge address more questions, pay more attention to students alternative explanations or gives more alternative
explanations for the students. T5 and T2 set the best examples of this finding. This
argument obtained through our study shares similarities with other research studies3238.

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Relatively inexperienced teachers prefer conventional or prepared assessment

and evaluation tools to practices towards diagnosis and editing. These teachers have
some difficulties in using assessment and evaluation tools independently of their
professional experiences. Regardless of their teaching experiences, teachers have
deficiencies in cognising the reasons for concept errors and determining these errors.
Teaching approaches of subjected teachers were identified as teacher-oriented
teaching and generally depending on the course book. It was identified that while science teachers mostly use such method and technics as normal expressions, catechism
and experimental learning method, they seldom resort to using references, projects,
problem solving, cooperative methods, trips-investigations, dramas, etc.
It is an outstanding detail of the study that less experienced teachers have significant deficincies in using methods and strategies due to their insufficient knowledge
about teaching methods and technics. The interactive whiteboards and the presentations used by a majority of teachers act as a significant teachnig technology in order
for a better understanding of students. However, it was obtained through classroom
observations that most of the teachers use teacher-oriented methods and strategies7,12,39.
The teaching approach of the participant teachers were teacher-oriented and
relied heavily on books except for T5 who had a student-oriented approach. It is drawing attention that teachers content knowledge has effects on their teaching method
and technics they use in class activities. Although the teachers declared during the
interviews that they would adopt a student-oriented approach in teaching concepts,
they preferred a direct teaching method. It has been revealed in consideration of the
findings of this study that while teachers mostly adopt some methods and strategies
such as direct teaching, question-answer and show experiments while they rarely use
alternative teaching methods such as project based learning, problem solving strategy,
cooperative and collaborative learning, scientific visits, drama, etc.
CONCLUSIONS
This study proves that there is a positive relationship between teachers experiences and
PCK developments3,4. The findings show that PCK development is a personal matter,
all sub-dimensions contribute differently from teacher to teacher and all dimensions
are in a dynamic relationship between each other.
Attendances of trainee teachers to classes with a companion having a developed
PCK, their participation to experiments and events and out of school activities may
be obliged.
Teachers may be encouraged to prepare reports on solutions for the problems they
encountered with throughout the academic year or papers on the definition of a good
practice at the end of all school terms and may be promoted to convert this study into
an academic publishing. The successful teachers may be rewarded.
Most of the teachers stated that they mostly have difficulties in teaching abstract
concepts in science. And it is a fact that there are lots of abstract concepts especially
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in acids-bases subject that is already hard to be perceived or taught. In order to overcome these difficulties, some in-service applied training activities may be conducted
towards alternative teaching method and strategies such as inquiry-based and projectbased studies.
As it is stated by Abell6, determining PCK development is a long-term and complicated process. The PCK developments of teachers on such a difficult subject as
acids and bases may be followed by the relevant department. Teachers with insufficient
PCK may be included in professional development seminars about the subjects in
which they have deficiencies regardless of their experiences. These seminars should
be conducted by the advanced specialists in the related PCK component.
As it is identified that science teachers ways for solving problems not understood
by students but just by themselves, student-oriented methods should be taught in
teacher training programs.
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