Teacher knowledge exchanges and transformations during collaborative CoRe design

This paper focuses on findings from a study that explored the use of collaborative Content Representation (CoRe) design as a professional development intervention to enhance science teachers’ pedagogical content knowledge (PCK). The interpretive research design was informed by the Refined Consensus Model (RCM) of PCK for teaching science. The RCM predicts that PCK can be transformed (developed) via knowledge exchanges between realms of PCK and other knowledge bases, and contextual influences. The study used CoRe design to facilitate these processes via teacher interaction and collaborative decision-making.
The context for CoRe design was teaching Electricity and Magnetism and nine teachers were involved. Six teachers were non-specialist physics teachers, three of whom were the focus of this research. These three teachers were interviewed and observed teaching before taking part in a CoRe design workshop to establish the nature of their PCK. The workshop aimed to promote authentic professional discussions amongst teachers to transfer and enhance PCK. PCK transfers focused on teaching approaches that promote students’ learning of underlying physics concepts as opposed to rules and definitions. After the workshop, the same three teachers were interviewed and observed teaching a new class to identify PCK developments. In their post-CoRe design interviews, these teachers claimed their PCK had been developed from taking part in CoRe design and their lesson observations confirmed their claims. Areas where PCK had been developed include: improved content knowledge for teaching this topic to a particular group of students, recognising and responding to students’ misunderstanding, and utilising new topic-specific pedagogical strategies to promote learning.