2.7 Conceptual framework
2.7.4 Pedagogical content knowledge
According to Grossman (1990), when teachers are teaching, they draw their knowledge from general pedagogic knowledge and subject matter knowledge, but they also draw
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from knowledge that is specific to teaching particular subject matter. Shulman (1986) claimed that subject matter knowledge on its own does not equip a teacher with the necessary skills needed for effective teaching. He says that ―teaching is the transformation of content into pedagogical forms‖ Shulman (as cited in Segall, 2004).
He called this combination pedagogical content knowledge. Pedagogical content knowledge includes ― an understanding of what makes the learning of specific topics easy or difficult; the conceptions of preconceptions that students of different ages and backgrounds bring with them to the learning of those most frequently taught topics and lessons‖ (Shulman, 1986a, pp. 9-10).
Grossman (1990) argues that Pedagogical Content Knowledge is made up of four central components. The first component includes the knowledge and beliefs about teaching of a particular subject to a specific grade. The teacher's knowledge of a subject enables them to have particular reason and understanding of why and how particular subject or theme in a subject needs to be taught. For example, a teacher may teach literature because he or she wants the student to understand and enjoy the language used in the literature like Shakespeare, while another may teach the literature because he or she wants the students to relate the literature to their own lives and make sense of their lives using someone else as their subject (Grossman, 1990).
The second component of pedagogical content knowledge includes ―knowledge of students and understanding, conceptions and misconceptions of particular topics in a subject matter‖ (Grossman, 1990, p. 8). This component, suggests that a teacher needs to have a thorough understanding of his or her students. You need to be able to see the kind of knowledge that students of a particular grade and context would possess and the kind of systems, techniques and skills they would use to solve particular problems in their subject. When a teacher understands the misconceptions that learners of a particular grade
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have, and the factors that contribute to the misconceptions, then he or she would also have the knowledge and skills needed to correct the learner‘s misconceptions.
The third component is the knowledge of the curriculum. This includes knowledge of material available to teach particular content and subject matter as well as the horizontal and vertical curricular for a subject (Grossman, 1990). Teachers teaching a particular grade and subject would possess particular knowledge about the curriculum that students of a particular subject and grade would have covered in the previous grade as well as how the curricular of a certain grade would need to be organised (Grossman, 1990). In South Africa, the national curriculum statement policy documents (NCS) of the subjects in schools are currently arranged into phases. The knowledge of the curriculum would involve seeing what a teacher is able to see what the curriculum of the previous grade entailed. The teacher can also get an idea of the kind of prior knowledge that the learners of a particular grade should have.
The fourth and last component of pedagogical content knowledge Grossman discusses is the knowledge of instructional strategies and representations for teaching particular topics. This means that teachers should possess rich strategies, metaphors, activities and explanations of how to teach a particular subject as compared to novice teachers (Grossman, 1990). Novice or beginning teachers are still in the process of building such rich instructional strategies, representation and skills to teach certain subject.
Experienced teachers know which examples to use in their teaching, which instructional strategies to use and how they can link subject matter knowledge with the previously acquired knowledge and new knowledge as well as leading discussions into a particular concept or knowledge focus (Grossman, 1990). Teachers who have pedagogical content knowledge are aware of strategies that are used when teaching specific subjects. Teachers sometimes tell stories, give practical examples or do
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demonstrations when teaching, the acquisition of instructional strategies and skills would make this process even much easier for both the teacher and the learners who are taught.
Grossman identified ways in which pedagogical content knowledge can be developed in teachers. She suggested that it can be developed through variety of factors and influences of a teacher‘s life and experiences. The first one is the apprenticeship or observation. When teachers are still studying or doing practical experience during their initial teacher education. Teachers are given a master teacher to observe and they can then imitate and adapt the master teachers‘ instructional skills and knowledge to their own and use it when teaching their own classrooms (Grossman, 1990).
Secondly, Pedagogical Content Knowledge can be developed through a teacher‘s knowledge and background of the discipline. She argued that a teacher who had studied a certain discipline already has certain knowledge that they already possess and this influences how they teach a particular subject and what they see as important for the learners to know in that particular subject.
The third factor that influences the development of pedagogical content knowledge is the professional coursework that teachers attend while doing initial teacher training or attending subject related coursework. This coursework teaches teachers or students how to teach specific subjects and gives teachers the methods they should use (Grossman, 1990). This also highlights the importance of continuing teacher development in teachers attaining teaching skills.
The fourth factor is the actual experiences of the teachers. Through working with students, the teachers learn how students understand concepts, their misconceptions of
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things, and their prior knowledge of particular subjects and how they can build upon the knowledge base of a particular discipline. This kind of knowledge that a teacher possesses can help develop pedagogical content knowledge that a teacher can use when teaching students and this kind of knowledge can make the teaching of a particular subject more effective for the students. The importance of the teachers experience in the development of pedagogical content knowledge shows a relationship between the different kinds of experiences acquired by the expert teachers in comparison to that of the novice teachers as mentioned by Bredeson (2002).
Grossman‘s components of pedagogical content knowledge are imperative for consideration when planning for teacher professional development initiatives. These components discuss elements that are necessary for a teacher to know in order to teach effectively, such as the knowledge of why particular subject should be taught to a particular grade, the learners misconceptions and instructional strategies to mention a few.