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This study explores how lesson study (LS) can enhance teacher candidates' ability to develop their pedagogical content knowledge (PCK) for teaching science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM).

A multiple case study design was undertaken using the social-constructivist paradigm. The authors explored similarities and differences within and among four cases of teacher candidates who collaborated with a cooperating teacher and a university mentor. The data were collected from field observations, post-lesson discussions and follow-up interviews; it was then content analyzed and validated using negative case analysis.

Learning from post-lesson discussions within their own LS clusters, including a teacher candidate, his/her cooperating teacher and university mentor, could help teacher candidates develop their PCK for STEM, rather than gain experience through several rounds of LS engagement. The foci of post-lesson discussions, which were discussed by each LS cluster the most, were students' context, teaching and STEM prototypes, while knowledge of instructional strategies for teaching STEM was mostly related to the previously mentioned foci. Teacher candidates' confidence in teaching STEM lessons seemed to improve when they designed and discussed the overall lessons with their LS clusters.

The STEM-specific LS model was proposed to support the exploration of the struggles and successes of student learning before designing the purpose of the LS and enacting its phases; the implementation of LS could be the tool for enhancing teacher candidates' PCK for STEM teaching.

The objective of this editorial is to focus the author’s attention on the nature of pedagogical content knowledge (PCK) and its development through Lesson Study.

Discussion in the editorial draws on papers in this issue, synthesized through the lens of PCK and supported by evidence from relevant literature.

Teachers' engagement in lesson and learning study action research has the potential to develop their PCK in two ways: they gain insights into the ways their students experience objects of learning with reference to their own content knowledge, and they gain insights into the ways students should become able to experience objects of learning in more powerful ways identified by the teachers. The papers in the current issue elaborate on the contextual development of PCK from multiple perspectives: STEM teaching, cross-cultural lesson study, inclusive education and cultural competence through bansho.

The studies presented in this issue allow the readers to see PCK through different lenses.

High school student achievement in economics has been predominantly characterized by low test scores, while secondary social studies preservice teachers have less formal training in economics than most other social studies disciplines. In this self-study, the instructional affordances and constraints of an experimental economics methods course are analyzed in terms of developing secondary social studies preservice and inservice teachers’ pedagogical content knowledge (PCK) in economics from both the instructor and pre and inservice teachers’ perspectives. Two course assignments appeared to most notably develop PCK in economics, the Analysis of Economic Events and the Active-Learning, Interdisciplinary Economic Lesson. Findings suggest interrelationships exist among common content knowledge, specialized content knowledge, and horizon content knowledge for teaching economics. Implications and instructional suggestions for social studies teacher education and professional development are discussed.

The purpose of this paper is to identify changes in teacher’s pedagogical content knowledge (PCK) as a result of their participation in two learning studies in mathematics.

A group of four mathematics teachers and the researcher of this paper explored two objects of learning related to division with decimal numbers and the straight-line equation in a learning study (LS) project over the course of one year. The data used consist of eight video-recorded lessons, four written student tests, eight student interviews and 14 recorded team meetings. The analysis was based on the variation theory principle about learning (Marton, 2015) and on ontological assumptions within the phenomenographic approach (Marton, 1981).

It was found that teachers’ PCK was changed and refined through the LS process in terms of differences in ways of understanding and discussing critical aspects related to each object of learning. In the paper, the terms “presumed critical aspects” and “explored critical aspects” are used to illustrate this difference. Furthermore, the concepts are viewed in relation to three subdomains of PCK: knowledge of content and curriculum (KCC), knowledge of content and students (KCS) and knowledge of content and teaching (KCT).

Bringing out the difference between “presumed critical aspect” and “explored critical aspects” advances the view that critical aspects are dynamic and emergent in practice – in the interaction between teaching and student learning. The research exposes “explored critical aspects” as a specific form of PCK in which KCC, KCS and KCT are intertwined.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the role of the corporate brand in a brand alliance that includes one of the corporation’s product brands.

Using a scenario-based study, 899 participants were randomly assigned to one of 84 unique brand alliance scenarios involving a corporate brand, a product brand ally and a focal product brand; a total of 33 corporate brands were represented. Results were estimated using a three-stage least squares model.

Consumers’ evaluations of a focal brand were enhanced when a corporate brand name associated with a product brand ally was included in the brand alliance. The effect was mediated by attitude toward the product brand ally. The indirect effect of the corporate brand was stronger when consumers had low product category knowledge (PCK).

Consistent with competitive cue theory, the findings suggest that a corporate brand can provide superior, consistent and unique information in a brand alliance.

Practitioners should note that the effectiveness of adding a corporate brand name into a product brand alliance is contingent on the extent of consumers’ PCK.

This paper examines when and why corporate brands are effective endorsers in product brand alliances. This paper adds empirical support to previous assertions that, if managed effectively, corporate brands can be valuable assets that convey unique valuable information to consumers.

This paper aims to explore the epistemic connections between three instructional coaches and a first-year in-service teacher during remote planning and debrief meetings. Prior evidence suggests that remote instructional coaching leads to better teaching practices and identifies the instructional coaching moves used to prompt teacher reflection.

In this study, the authors utilized quantitative ethnography and epistemic network analysis (ENA) approaches to explore the epistemic frames of three remote university-based instructional coaches as they supported a first-year in-service teacher.

Quantitative ENA findings shed light on the network connections between instructional coaches and teachers, as well as the epistemic frames observed during planning and debrief meetings. Additionally, the authors provide qualitative findings that complement and reinforce the quantitative results.

All data collection occurred via Zoom, and the class was in a hybrid modality, with some students attending class in person and some attending remotely via Zoom. This unique context could have impacted the epistemic connections surrounding technology and logistics.

This study provides a practical codebook for use in future studies that explores instructional coaching. Findings from this study can be used to inform instructional coaching decisions.

The ENA findings helped deepen the authors' understanding of how instructional coaches can support a first-year in-service teacher during planning and debrief meetings in several ways. Additionally, this study presents a unique context given the COVID-19 pandemic and the remote model of instructional coaching.

The purpose of this paper is to explore whether aspects of co-coaching could support primary science teacher education in a university–school initial teacher education (ITE) partnership program in England.

A mixed methodological approach was taken, comprising of student teachers responding to a coaching questionnaire blended with a qualitative exploration of audio-recorded student teacher co-coaching conversations. Informal student teacher discussion groups were used as a means to discern their attitudes and beliefs pertaining to co-coaching within taught university sessions.

Analysis and subsequent integration of data showed that many aspects of co-coaching supported student teacher pedagogical knowledge acquisition and professional development. Additionally, questionnaire responses and small-group discussions revealed that student teachers developed positive attitudes to this mode of learning.

This study evaluates the innovative use of co-coaching techniques during primary teacher science education, and the outcomes have clear implications for the design of ITE programs in England and potentially further afield.

This study intended to provide such an opportunity to preservice teachers with a project-based learning (PBL) approach and an inquiry-based pedagogy to engage them in learning science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) knowledge and skills of integration with adding an art component to STEM as science, technology, engineering, arts and mathematics (STEAM) for K-8 children, and developing their own STEAM tasks. The purpose of this project was to explore how STEAM integration in mathematics methods courses influenced K-8 preservice teachers' disposition and knowledge of STEAM integration.

This project used a mixed-research design in data collection and analysis to examine the effects of using the STEAM integration on preservice teachers' knowledge and disposition. The preservice teachers in two EDEL 462 classes in Spring 2019 participated in STEAM learning and development in the inquiry process of four steps of STEAM integration. Data collection includes the pre- and postquestionnaires on teachers' knowledge and disposition.

The results in this study show that the STEAM integration in the mathematics methods courses engaged preservice teachers in four steps of the inquiry process of connection, collaboration, communication and evaluation for STEAM integration using PBL approach. The preservice teachers not only enhanced their disposition in attitude and confidence but also enhanced their knowledge of STEAM integration.

The following conclusions can be drawn from the present study that integrating STEAM components in mathematics methods fosters preservice teachers' creativity, connection, communication, application and teamwork skills, and importantly, it enhances K-8 preservice teachers' productive dispositions and knowledge in STEAM integration.

The results of this study indicate that using math methods courses to engage preservice teachers in learning STEAM integration and designing authentic STEAM tasks in four steps enhanced preservice teachers' attitude and confidence that significantly related to their knowledge of STEAM integration.

These findings have significant implications for the understanding of how to prepare future teachers in STEAM integration in higher education.

This study aims to understand the extent to which a faculty development program that includes a week-long course design experience followed by sustained support changes new faculty's perceptions, beliefs and teaching practices. The authors employed the teacher professional knowledge and skill (TPK&S) framework and characteristics of effective educational development interventions to drive the program development, implementation and assessment.

This study utilized a mixed methods approach. Data sources include pre-/mid-/post-program responses to a validated survey, pre-/post-program course syllabi analyzed using a validated rubric and pre-/post-classroom observations collected using the Classroom Observation Protocol for Undergraduate STEM (COPUS) instrument.

Findings indicate transformative effects for participants' beliefs about their teaching and changes to their instructional practices. Significant and practical effects were observed across different portions of the program for increases in participants' self-efficacy, endorsement of a conceptual change approach toward teaching and perceptions of institutional support. Participants produced more learning-focused syllabi and many moved toward more student-centered instructional approaches in their teaching practices.

Due to the voluntary nature of the new faculty development program, this study may have been limited by participant self-selection bias and differential sample sizes for the study's individual measures. Future research should consider designs which maximize faculty participation in measurement across all data sources.

This study addresses shortcomings in prior studies which utilized limited data sources to measure intervention impact and answers the call for more rigorous research to obtain a more complete picture of instructional development in higher education.

Flipped classroom approaches (FCA) are an educational innovation that could increase students' learning outcomes in, and their enjoyment of, mathematics or STEM education. To integrate FCA into education sustainably, professional teacher development (PTD) is a promising tool. The research aim is to explore which aspects should be considered when developing and implementing professional mathematics or STEM teacher development for flipped approaches.

A total of 20 expert interviews were conducted and analysed according to a synthesis of grounded theory approaches and qualitative interview study principles.

Evaluating the interview data indicates that the characteristics of different teacher types in PTD, learning activities in PTD and the DSE model derived in this study could be vital elements in professional mathematics or STEM teacher development for flipped approaches.

Evaluating the interview data indicates that the characteristics of different teacher types in PTD, learning activities in PTD and the DSE model derived in this study could be vital elements in professional mathematics or STEM teacher development for flipped approaches.