Exploring PCK-in-Action: Teachers' Attention and Responses to Student Ideas in Classroom Discussions

• In Event: Poster Session 2
  In Poster Session: Multiple Dimensions of Teaching in the Content Area

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to explore teachers’ PCK-in-action as it is reflected in classroom discussions, in particular how teachers attend and respond to student ideas. We conducted a qualitative, multiple-case study of six physics teachers in the Midwestern United States. The teachers’ practice—both enacted instruction and reasoning behind their instructional decisions—was captured through classroom observations and video-stimulated interviews and used as evidence of PCK-in-action. Preliminary results indicate that the two methods provided different portrayals of teachers’ PCK-in-action. We illustrate this result with two contrasting cases and discuss implications for research on PCK and classroom discourse.

Authors

• Jiwon Kim, Michigan State University

• Alicia C. Alonzo, Michigan State University