Validation of a Paper-and-Pencil Test Instrument Measuring Biology Teachers’ Pedagogical Content Knowledge by Using Think-Aloud Interviews

Jüttner, Melanie; Neuhaus, Birgit J.

doi:10.11114/jets.v1i2.126

Cited by 20 publications

(11 citation statements)

References 35 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…Such concerns cannot be rejected a priori; they must be empirically investigated by further validity checks. However, Jüttner and Neuhaus () found that results obtained using their instrument may be comparable, despite differences in language and culture, indicating that our instrument may also have at least adequate cross‐setting validity.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 88%

“…Studies available so far, refer to most one topic of school biology lessons, such as Ecology, Genetics (Kirschner et al, ), or Evolution (Großschedl, Neubrand, et al, ) to capture corresponding specific aspects of teachers' PCK. In a respective topic‐specific manner, studies are reported, for example, by van Dijk and Kattmann (), Schmelzing et al () and Jüttner and Neuhaus (). Hence, a comprehensive, multidisciplinary and biology‐specific instrument is highly desirable, to acquire insights.…”

Section: Theoretical Backgroundmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

A new instrument for measuring pre‐service biology teachers' pedagogical content knowledge: The PCK‐IBI

2018

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Teachers' pedagogical content knowledge (PCK) is highly important for effective design and implementation of school teaching. Thus, the current status, development and efficacy of this knowledge, its relationships with teaching quality parameters, and its impact on students' learning processes and success, require rigorous examination. Thoroughly validated, objective and reliable test instruments that are highly sensitive to changes in variables of proven knowledge-related relevance in teacher education are also required. Previous attempts to design such instruments for assessing science teachers' PCK have largely focused on mathematical content. Therefore, here we present an instrument (the pedagogical content knowledge in biology inventory, PCK-IBI), based on conceptualizations of teachers' professional competence, for assessing secondary school preservice biology teachers' PCK. In a series of three evaluations and refinements it was tested with samples of N = 274 and N = 432 German pre-service as well as one sample of n = 65 German pre-service and n = 35 German in-service biology teachers. Item analysis, scale analysis and empirically obtained indicators of validity suggest that the final 34-item-version of the PCK-IBI is unidimensional, provides objective test scores and enables reliable and valid registration of pre-service biology teachers' PCK. Thus, hypotheses regarding specific aspects of the model on which the PCK-IBI's construction is based on are empirically supported. The results of our study provide empirical support for the instrument's potential utility. K E Y W O R D S assessment, learning success, pedagogical content knowledge (PCK), teacher education † These authors contributed equally to this article.

show abstract

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 88%

Section: Theoretical Backgroundmentioning

confidence: 99%

A new instrument for measuring pre‐service biology teachers' pedagogical content knowledge: The PCK‐IBI

2018

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Different characteristics and abilities are described to be necessary for effective teaching [4]. Currently, the aspect of professional knowledge is an emphasized object of research (e.g., [5][6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15][16]). However, being an effective teacher takes more than just having professional knowledge.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Opportunities to Learn for Teachers’ Self‐Efficacy and Enthusiasm

Mahler

Großschedl

Harms

2017

Education Research International

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

The aim of this study was to identify opportunities to learn for teachers' motivational orientations. Motivational orientations are relevant characteristics of psychological functioning, which are important for the behavior of a teacher and mandatory for effective teaching. We focus on three domains: self-efficacy, subject-specific enthusiasm, and enthusiasm for teaching the subject. Selfefficacy covers the belief of an individual that he or she is capable of performing required behaviors to produce a desired outcome. Teacher enthusiasm is an affective teacher orientation that is related to a specific subject and to teaching this specific subject. Different opportunities to learn are considered for teachers' motivational orientations. Since teacher education particularly focuses on the acquisition of professional knowledge, we added a further exploratory focus to the study and investigated the relationships between motivational orientations and professional knowledge (content knowledge and pedagogical content knowledge). 134 biology teachers participated in the study. The results reveal that teacher education at university, the attendance in professional development courses, and self-study provide opportunities to learn for self-efficacy and enthusiasm for teaching the subject. Moreover, we found self-efficacy and subject-specific enthusiasm to be positively related to pedagogical content knowledge.

show abstract

“…The CK part of the test (12 items) included open-ended and multiple-choice items on neurobiology and cytology. The validity of both knowledge tests was determined by contrast-groups comparisons [66] and think-aloud interviews [67]. In contrast-group comparisons between biology secondary school teachers, certified biologists and certified pedagogues, it was found that the biology secondary school teachers performed significantly higher in the developed PCK test than did both the certified biologists and certified pedagogues [67].…”

Section: Domain-specific Knowledge Dimensions Pck and Ckmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The validity of both knowledge tests was determined by contrast-groups comparisons [66] and think-aloud interviews [67]. In contrast-group comparisons between biology secondary school teachers, certified biologists and certified pedagogues, it was found that the biology secondary school teachers performed significantly higher in the developed PCK test than did both the certified biologists and certified pedagogues [67]. Additionally, a high content validity for the PCK items was examined by think-aloud interviews with German and American biology teachers [66].…”

Section: Domain-specific Knowledge Dimensions Pck and Ckmentioning

confidence: 99%

Effects of Teachers’ Professional Knowledge and Their Use of Three-Dimensional Physical Models in Biology Lessons on Students’ Achievement

Förtsch

Kotzebue

et al. 2018

Education Sciences

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Using three-dimensional physical models elaborately in their learning, students can develop high-level understanding of models and modeling in science, thereby attaining higher achievement. However, there are in the literature few indications of how teachers should use three-dimensional physical models in instruction and whether teachers’ professional knowledge is a prerequisite for teaching with elaborate use of models. Therefore, our study used a mixed-methods approach to analyze the effects of biology teachers’ domain-specific pedagogical content knowledge (PCK) and content knowledge (CK) on students’ achievement mediated by elaborate model use (ELMO). Our quantitative sample comprised 36 German secondary school teachers whose lessons on the topic of neurobiology were videotaped twice (N = 72 lessons). Teachers completed professional knowledge tests on their PCK and CK. Students’ achievement was measured using pre- and post-knowledge tests. Our qualitative analysis involved five selected teachers according to aspects of ELMO. The results of our study indicated that teachers’ PCK and CK had no direct effect on students’ achievement. However, teachers’ PCK had a significant indirect and positive effect on students’ achievement mediated by ELMO. The findings of our study can provide teachers and researchers examples of how to implement biology instruction with elaborate use of three-dimensional physical models.

show abstract

Validation of a Paper-and-Pencil Test Instrument Measuring Biology Teachers’ Pedagogical Content Knowledge by Using Think-Aloud Interviews

Cited by 20 publications

References 35 publications

A new instrument for measuring pre‐service biology teachers' pedagogical content knowledge: The PCK‐IBI

A new instrument for measuring pre‐service biology teachers' pedagogical content knowledge: The PCK‐IBI

Opportunities to Learn for Teachers’ Self‐Efficacy and Enthusiasm

Effects of Teachers’ Professional Knowledge and Their Use of Three-Dimensional Physical Models in Biology Lessons on Students’ Achievement

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About