Development and validation of an instrument for measuring Chinese chemistry teachers’ perceptions of pedagogical content knowledge for teaching chemistry core competencies

This study aims to develop and validate a new instrument for measuring chemistry teachers’ perceptions of Pedagogical Content Knowledge for teaching Chemistry Core Competencies (PCK_CCC) in the context of new Chinese chemistry curriculum reform. The five constructs and the initial 17 items in the new instrument were contextualized by the PCK pentagon model (Park S. and Oliver J. S., (2008), J. Res. Sci. Teach., 45(7), 812–834.) with the notions of the Senior High School Chemistry Curriculum Standards (Ministry of Education, P. R. China, 2017). 210 chemistry teachers from a University-Government-School initiative voluntarily participated in this study. The findings from item analysis, confirmatory factor analysis and correlation analysis provide sufficient empirical evidence to support the convergent and discriminant validity of the instrument. The concurrent validity of the instrument was confirmed by testing mean differences among teacher demographic groups. The high Cronbach's coefficient alpha values show good internal consistency reliability of the instrument. Integrating the evidence from theory and data, we documented a valid and reliable PCK_CCC instrument with five constructs consisting of 16 items. This study provides a thorough process for developing and validating instruments that address teacher perceptions of their PCK in a particular subject domain. The valid and reliable PCK_CCC instrument would be beneficial for teacher education researchers and teacher professional programs.

Developing Teachers' Knowledge for Teaching in Virtual Contexts

The 2020 worldwide pandemic signaled the COVID-19 crisis as a real threat and forced K-12 schools to move teaching and learning from face-to-face classrooms to online virtual classrooms. Educators searched for a silver lining amid the hardships created by the virtual teaching and learning environments. This chapter answers an important question: How has the knowledge that teachers need for teaching changed as a result of School Lockdown 2020-2021? Analysis of the chapters in this book in addition to extensive qualitative observations of two middle school virtual computer science classrooms over six months identified two important lessons needing consideration when requiring K-12 virtual instruction: (1) teachers' knowledge for teaching requires developing their technological pedagogical content knowledge for teaching in both face-to-face and virtual contexts, and (2) teaching virtually relies on a social presence that assures students' sense of belonging to engage in virtual learning experiences.

Does Teacher Learning Last? Understanding How Much Teachers Retain Their Knowledge After Professional Development

Teacher professional development (PD) is seen as a promising intervention to improve teacher knowledge, instructional practice, and ultimately student learning. While research finds instances of significant program effects on teacher knowledge, little is known about how long these effects last. If teachers forget what is learned, the contribution of the intervention will be diminished. Using a large-scale data set, this study examines the sustainability of gains in teachers’ content knowledge for teaching mathematics (CKT-M). Results show that there is a negative rate of change in CKT after teachers complete the training, suggesting that the average score gain from the program is lost in just 37 days. There is, however, variation in how quickly knowledge is lost, with teachers participating in summer programs losing more rapidly than those who attend programs that occur during school years. The implications of these findings on designing and evaluating PD programs are discussed.