Pedagogical content knowledge for teaching evolution across the primary school curriculum. A design study of a pre-service teacher education module

Abstract

Background: In the last two decades, numerous studies have accumulated that indicate that evolutionary concepts can and should be taught at the primary school level. However, teaching evolution in primary school is presumably not yet the norm globally. At the same time, the educational potential of evolutionary concepts lies in their applicability to a large variety of (existing) curriculum topics in the natural and social sciences. Capitalizing on this generality of evolution requires broad teacher pedagogical content knowledge (PCK) about the teaching of evolutionary concepts. However, not much is known regarding ways to develop primary teacher PCK during pre-service training. In this article, we present the iterative design, implementation, and mixed methods evaluation (based on a design-based research framework) of a module concept for the development of pre-service primary school teacher PCK for teaching evolution as an interdisciplinary lens across the primary school curriculum.Results: Preliminary evidence indicates that participants were able to develop positive attitudes and motivations as well as core aspects of PCK regarding the teaching of evolutionary concepts in primary school. The resulting module design integrates existing collective PCK on teaching evolution at the primary level as well as novel design considerations and teaching approaches that can be integrated into existing pre-service teacher education programs. Conclusion: This study indicates that pre-service teachers can be enabled and motivated to teach evolutionary concepts across various themes in the primary school curriculum through a semester long course. However, challenges remain particularly regarding the integration of evolutionary concepts in mandated curriculum standards and teacher education contexts such that the educational potential of evolution can be fully capitalized on by teachers.