Early Career Middle School Science Teachers Learning Science Through Teaching: Strategies for Recognizing Content Knowledge Gaps

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  In Roundtable Session: What Did I Read? Multiple Literacies in STEM Teacher Education

Abstract

Subject-specific content knowledge is crucial for effective science teaching, yet many teachers are not fully equipped with this knowledge. Learning from practice can help bridge the gap between what teachers know and what they need to know. This paper is based on a study of six early-career middle school science teachers in three states. Video-recorded classroom observations and follow-up interviews focused on observed apparent gaps in the teachers’ science content knowledge, the evidence and nature of those gaps, and whether/when the teacher recognized the gaps. Analysis of this data identified strategies teachers used that helped them recognize gaps in their science content knowledge as well as common practices that prevented teachers from readily identifying their content knowledge gaps.

Authors

• Brian Edward Kinghorn, Michigan State University

• Ralph T. Putnam, Michigan State University

• E. David Wong, Michigan State University