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postgraduate thesis: Preservice teachers' development of pedagogical content knowledge for teaching nature of science through a progressive video-based reflection task

TitlePreservice teachers' development of pedagogical content knowledge for teaching nature of science through a progressive video-based reflection task
Authors
Issue Date2015
PublisherThe University of Hong Kong (Pokfulam, Hong Kong)
Citation
Lo, M. [盧文森]. (2015). Preservice teachers' development of pedagogical content knowledge for teaching nature of science through a progressive video-based reflection task. (Thesis). University of Hong Kong, Pokfulam, Hong Kong SAR. Retrieved from http://dx.doi.org/10.5353/th_b5610960
AbstractTeaching and learning Nature of Science (NOS) is becoming an increasingly important part of science education. Effective NOS instruction depends on teachers’ Pedagogical Content Knowledge for teaching NOS (PCKnos). However, little is known about the characteristics of PCKnos, how it is developed, or the factors influencing that development. This study explores these aspects through a naturalistic study of the learning experiences of eight secondary school biology preservice teachers (PSTs) enrolled in a one-year Postgraduate Diploma in Education (PDGE) teacher training course in Hong Kong. The PSTs’ PCKnos development was traced by analysing the assignments they submitted to the course and the transcripts of two semi-structured interviews. The Video Reflection Assignment (VRA) was particularly informative. It required the PSTs to comment on the same set of videos at three different times: at the beginning, halfway through, and at the end of the PGDE course. The videos featured NOS instruction in one way or another. By analysing how the PSTs’ comments on specific video episodes evolved over time, supplemented by the interview data, their PCKnos development was documented. Factors influencing PCKnos development were identified mainly through the analysis of interview data. A new method, similar to the recently introduced PCK-map methodology, was created to visualize the findings. Among the five constituent components of the PSTs’ PCKnos, their knowledge of instructional strategies was found to be the most developed, and their knowledge of assessment to be the weakest. The PSTs developed their PCKnos through progressive reflection on the same videos by drawing upon various experiences. Five factors influenced this process: (1) PSTs’ NOS understanding, (2) their prior learning and/or research experience, (3) their experience of attending the PGDE course, (4) their classroom teaching experience, and (5) the VRA. The VRA appears to be a potent tool for developing PSTs’ PCKnos in two respects. First, the PSTs could utilize what they saw in the videos either as a source of experience on which to reflect, or to stimulate their reflections on newly acquired experiences. Second, the progressive nature of the VRA could deepen the PSTs’ reflection, particularly with the aid of a theoretical framework in later reflection tasks. The VRA was found to be helpful in overcoming three challenges to the development of PSTs’ PCKnos: their weak understanding of NOS and of what constitutes effective NOS pedagogy, and the lack of school environments conducive to learning to teach NOS. PSTs may have few opportunities to observe others’ effective NOS instruction or to experiment with NOS instruction themselves during their practicum; the videos in the VRA can play an important role in supplementing this lack of classroom experiences. It was further found that videos showing explicit-reflective NOS instruction were more effective in developing PSTs’ PCKnos than those showing implicit NOS instruction. To conclude, this study establishes that video-based progressive reflection tasks could be potent tools for developing PSTs’ PCKnos, and makes recommendations on how to implement and refine these tasks. Implications for education policy and future research are also discussed.
DegreeDoctor of Philosophy
SubjectScience - Study and teaching (Secondary) - China - Hong Kong
Student teachers - Training of - China - Hong Kong
Science teachers - Training of - China - Hong Kong
Dept/ProgramEducation
Persistent Identifierhttp://hdl.handle.net/10722/221176
HKU Library Item IDb5610960

 

DC FieldValueLanguage
dc.contributor.authorLo, Man-sum-
dc.contributor.author盧文森-
dc.date.accessioned2015-11-04T23:11:54Z-
dc.date.available2015-11-04T23:11:54Z-
dc.date.issued2015-
dc.identifier.citationLo, M. [盧文森]. (2015). Preservice teachers' development of pedagogical content knowledge for teaching nature of science through a progressive video-based reflection task. (Thesis). University of Hong Kong, Pokfulam, Hong Kong SAR. Retrieved from http://dx.doi.org/10.5353/th_b5610960-
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/10722/221176-
dc.description.abstractTeaching and learning Nature of Science (NOS) is becoming an increasingly important part of science education. Effective NOS instruction depends on teachers’ Pedagogical Content Knowledge for teaching NOS (PCKnos). However, little is known about the characteristics of PCKnos, how it is developed, or the factors influencing that development. This study explores these aspects through a naturalistic study of the learning experiences of eight secondary school biology preservice teachers (PSTs) enrolled in a one-year Postgraduate Diploma in Education (PDGE) teacher training course in Hong Kong. The PSTs’ PCKnos development was traced by analysing the assignments they submitted to the course and the transcripts of two semi-structured interviews. The Video Reflection Assignment (VRA) was particularly informative. It required the PSTs to comment on the same set of videos at three different times: at the beginning, halfway through, and at the end of the PGDE course. The videos featured NOS instruction in one way or another. By analysing how the PSTs’ comments on specific video episodes evolved over time, supplemented by the interview data, their PCKnos development was documented. Factors influencing PCKnos development were identified mainly through the analysis of interview data. A new method, similar to the recently introduced PCK-map methodology, was created to visualize the findings. Among the five constituent components of the PSTs’ PCKnos, their knowledge of instructional strategies was found to be the most developed, and their knowledge of assessment to be the weakest. The PSTs developed their PCKnos through progressive reflection on the same videos by drawing upon various experiences. Five factors influenced this process: (1) PSTs’ NOS understanding, (2) their prior learning and/or research experience, (3) their experience of attending the PGDE course, (4) their classroom teaching experience, and (5) the VRA. The VRA appears to be a potent tool for developing PSTs’ PCKnos in two respects. First, the PSTs could utilize what they saw in the videos either as a source of experience on which to reflect, or to stimulate their reflections on newly acquired experiences. Second, the progressive nature of the VRA could deepen the PSTs’ reflection, particularly with the aid of a theoretical framework in later reflection tasks. The VRA was found to be helpful in overcoming three challenges to the development of PSTs’ PCKnos: their weak understanding of NOS and of what constitutes effective NOS pedagogy, and the lack of school environments conducive to learning to teach NOS. PSTs may have few opportunities to observe others’ effective NOS instruction or to experiment with NOS instruction themselves during their practicum; the videos in the VRA can play an important role in supplementing this lack of classroom experiences. It was further found that videos showing explicit-reflective NOS instruction were more effective in developing PSTs’ PCKnos than those showing implicit NOS instruction. To conclude, this study establishes that video-based progressive reflection tasks could be potent tools for developing PSTs’ PCKnos, and makes recommendations on how to implement and refine these tasks. Implications for education policy and future research are also discussed.-
dc.languageeng-
dc.publisherThe University of Hong Kong (Pokfulam, Hong Kong)-
dc.relation.ispartofHKU Theses Online (HKUTO)-
dc.rightsThis work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.-
dc.rightsThe author retains all proprietary rights, (such as patent rights) and the right to use in future works.-
dc.subject.lcshScience - Study and teaching (Secondary) - China - Hong Kong-
dc.subject.lcshStudent teachers - Training of - China - Hong Kong-
dc.subject.lcshScience teachers - Training of - China - Hong Kong-
dc.titlePreservice teachers' development of pedagogical content knowledge for teaching nature of science through a progressive video-based reflection task-
dc.typePG_Thesis-
dc.identifier.hkulb5610960-
dc.description.thesisnameDoctor of Philosophy-
dc.description.thesislevelDoctoral-
dc.description.thesisdisciplineEducation-
dc.description.naturepublished_or_final_version-
dc.identifier.doi10.5353/th_b5610960-
dc.identifier.mmsid991014064299703414-

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