Exploring Interdisciplinary Pedagogical Content Knowledge in Teaching Energy by Using Food Systems (Poster 2)

• In Event: Collaborative Development of a Framework for Food-Energy-Water-Nexus Education

Abstract

Tackling real-world complex problems within the intersection of FEW-nexus is one of the common features when using integrated science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) pedagogical design to structure instruction and develop educational materials (Authors, 2022; Guzey et al., 2020; Moore et al., 2020; NAE, 2009; NRC, 2014). Due to interdisciplinary nature of real-world problems, to succeed in implementing integrated STEM pedagogical design, teachers need to decompartmentalize disciplinary boundaries to help students make interdisciplinary connections (Moore et al., 2020; NRC, 2014; NRC, 2012; NSTC, 2018). Pedagogical content knowledge (PCK) is the knowledge that teachers need to deliver effective instruction. To date, PCK research has been mainly restricted to single domains as it emphasizes subject or topic specific. Few studies, such as An (2017), and Weinberg and McMeeking (2017), have tackled teachers’ interdisciplinary pedagogical content knowledge (iPCK). This poster presents a qualitative case study that explored a high school science teacher (biology) and a high school Career Technical Education (CTE) teacher’s (family and consumer sciences, FCS) iPCK, when they co-developed integrated STEM lessons and instruction to teach the concept of energy by using food systems as a context. Although maintaining a sustainable food system is a national security issue (FAO et al., 2020), people lack knowledge about the need for abundant, affordable, and nutritious food (Mercier, 2015). Connecting to FEW-nexus, food is a form of energy. Energy, on the other hand, is a cross-cutting concept that involves the field of physics, chemistry and biology, and other STEM fields (NGSS Lead States, 2013). Although energy is a unifying concept, it is difficult to teach, and students often have challenges to conceptualize energy as a system (Aguiar, et al., 2018; Millar, 2014; Purwianingsih et al., 2017). The study aimed to answer the question, when teachers collaborated with each other, “in what ways did the biology teacher and FCS teacher demonstrate their interdisciplinary PCK in teaching energy through food systems?” Teachers structured their integrated STEM lessons as “preventing apple waste by applying different ways to extend apple shelf life.” Although the teachers found their niches to tackle the overarching problem, the results showed that they were different in their content knowledge and pedagogical knowledge. The teachers demonstrated how their disciplinary thinking informed their pedagogical knowledge. In addition, both teachers believed that food was a great way to engage students and students had limited knowledge about energy that flows in-and-out a food system. Initially, the teachers did not conceptualize energy as a system (Purwiangsih et al., 2017), but were able to see energy as part of the food system after completing the project. Teaching a crosscutting theme may take more than time and develop through multiple phases of a system’s project that helps teachers develop how components of a system interact with each other (Aguiar et al., 2018). It is important to note that teachers will teach within their disciplinary knowledge and experiences when they design integrated STEM instruction. Collaboration helps teachers see the value of what each discipline brings into the collaborative STEM teaching partnership.

Authors

• Hui-Hui Wang, Purdue University

• Neil A. Knobloch, Purdue University