This study focuses on how science teachers’ Pedagogical content knowledge (PCK) can be captured and developed with the support of Content representation (CoRe) in combination with video-based reflection when they plan, teach, and reflect on their teaching in sustainable development (SD). The theoretical framework is based on PCK, and the Refined consensus model (RCM) is used as a theoretical lens for conceptualising links between teaching practice and PCK development. Eleven upper-secondary school science teachers participated in the study. Data from two teachers were chosen to illustrate representative examples from the analysis. The findings indicate that the use of CoRe and video-based reflection provides opportunities for teachers to make their knowledge of practice explicit and help them begin to identify aspects within their own practice that are important for the further development of teaching SD. The use of RCM as an analytical tool also makes an important contribution to how RCM can be used to identify and capture teachers’ PCK. © 2023, The Author(s).

Laboratory work is considered essential in promoting students’ learning of science and of scientific inquiry. What the students perceive as important to learn from a regular laboratory exercise is probably affected by the teacher’s objectives. We study the extent to which one teacher’s objectives are fulfilled during lab work, and how teacher-student and student-student interactions contribute to developing learning experiences from the laboratory exercise. Do students encounter opportunities to learn in agreement with the teacher’s objectives? This explanatory single case study includes use of a palette of methods, such as pre- and post-interviews, observations and video documentation from an experienced secondary school teacher and her 8th grade (aged 13-14) students’ laboratory work. Our results point to the importance of teacher involvement to help students understand what to look for, how to do it and why. Especially teacher-student interactions during lab work seemed to influence what students perceived as important to learn. In the laboratory exercise in this case, the teacher helped the students to observe and to use their observations in their explanations. The lab work included learning experiences other than those addressed by the teacher, and the teacher’s intentions were partially fulfilled. Not only what the teacher says, but also how the teacher acts is important to help students understand what to learn from a laboratory exercise. © 2009 Springer Science+Business Media B.V.

The research outlined in this paper investigated how student teachers perceived the development of their knowledge and attitudes towards physics through video recorded practical workshops based on experiments and subsequent group discussions. During an 8-week physics course, 40 primary science student teachers worked in groups of 13–14 on practical experiments and problem-solving skills in physics. The student teachers were video recorded in order to follow their activities and discussions during the experiments. In connection with every workshop, the student teachers participated in a seminar conducted by their physics teachers and a primary science teacher; they watched the video recording in order to reflect on their activities and how they communicated their conceptions in their group. After the 8 weeks of coursework a questionnaire including a storyline was used to elicit the student teachers’ perceptions of their development of subject matter knowledge from the beginning to the end of the course. Finally, five participants were interviewed after the course. The results provided insight into how aspects such as self-confidence and the meaningfulness of knowledge for primary teaching were perceived as important factors for the primary science student teachers’ development of subject matter knowledge as well as a positive attitude towards physics.

This study investigates preschool teachers’ considerations for including digital tools in science teaching to develop children’s learning of science content. Due to the ongoing digitalisation and demands in society, the utilisation of digital tools has increased significantly in educational settings. Recent research about digital tools in early childhood education focuses on various aspects of technology implementation. However, there is a research gap in which considerations underpin preschool teachers’ choices of what, why and how they integrate digital tools into science teaching. The data generation was conducted by different methods. The reflection tool Content Representations (CoRe) is used to make the preschool teachers’ considerations explicit when reflecting on planning science teaching regarding specific science content formulated as Big Ideas. Further, video stimulated recall interviews capture the preschool teachers’ considerations on their interactions with children in science activities and usingdigital tools. The Refined Consensus Model (RCM) of Pedagogical Content Knowledge (PCK) was employed as a theoretical framework for analysing and interpreting data around an entire teaching cycle. Some of the teachers’ considerations for including digital tools involve accessing children’s learning, making the abstract concrete and stimulating children’s engagement and learning. Further, the findings indicate that the considerations concerned knowledge about teachers’ personal PCK (pPCK) and enacted PCK (ePCK) aspects. © 2023, The Author(s).

In higher natural science education, the scientific report is the prevailing genre of writing. Despite the fact that communicative skills are highly valued in working life, earlier studies have shown deficiencies among science students. In this paper, we highlight the need for varied communication training, in particularly arguing for the possibilities that students’ popular science writing offers. Our study was based on a questionnaire answered by 64 degree project students in biology. The questions focused on the students’ own experiences of writing about their projects for the general public and what contribution the writing made to their learning of science. A vast majority of the students expressed that the writing helped change their perspectives and that they saw their subject and project in a different light. Many of the students described that the popular science writing made it easier for them to put the science content in a context, to better understand the aim of their own work, and the implications of their findings. We discuss the positive effects that popular science writing may have on students’ subject matter understanding and development of scientific literacy. Our concluding remark is that popular sciencewriting is a useful tool for reflection and that it adds significant value to the students’ capacity to change perspectives, understand their subject and develop scientific literacy. © 2015 Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht

Studies have shown that there is a need for pedagogical content knowledge among science teachers. This study investigates two primary teachers and their objectives in choosing inquiry- and context-based instructional strategies as well as the relation between the choice of instructional strategies and the teachers’ knowledge about of students’ understanding and intended learning outcomes. Content representations created by the teachers and students’ experiences of the enacted teaching served as foundations for the teachers’ reflections during interviews. Data from the interviews were analyzed in terms of the intended, enacted, and experienced purposes of the teaching and, finally, as the relation between intended, enacted, and experienced purposes. Students’ experiences of the teaching were captured through a questionnaire, which was analyzed inductively, using content analysis. The results show that the teachers’ intended teaching objectives were that students would learn about water. During the enacted teaching, it seemed as if the inquiry process was in focus and this was also how many of the students experienced the objectives of the activities. There was a gap between the intended and experienced objectives. Hardly any relation was found between the teachers’ choice of instructional strategies and their knowledge about students’ understanding, with the exception that the teacher who also added drama wanted to support her students’ understanding of the states of water. © 2016 Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht