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This chapter briefly reviews the research related to the construct of pedagogical content knowledge (PCK) over the past 25 years. Despite the remarkable implications of the PCK conceptualization, questions remain concerning the vagueness of the construct and the studies conducted on the PCK research line, questions which may lead to new developments in defining the nature of the conceptualization, its validity, and its utility. However, agreement exists concerning the need to portray specific cases of PCK of successful teaching. The work argues for a need to develop models of teacher learning and professional development that are subject matter specific. The chapter ends with a call for basing professional development on the conceptualization of PCK.

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.

This case study investigated how a collaborative, interdisciplinary partnership supported pre-service teachers’ approach to integrating content and pedagogy in coursework and field-based experiences at a large, public university. The collaboration involved articulating shared goals and objectives, planning and teaching co-requisite courses, and sharing a vision of shaping future social studies teachers. The research questions that framed this study were: What elements contributed to a successful collaborative, interdisciplinary partnership? How did faculty involved in the collaboration conceptualize supporting pre-service teachers’ development of pedagogical content knowledge (PCK)? The voices of the faculty members involved in this collaboration are highlighted to illustrate how they conceptualized meeting the needs of pre-service social studies teachers. Findings included identifying the constraints and benefits of partnerships as well as contributing factors to a successful interdisciplinary partnership. Identifying the evolving definition and role of PCK in the training of future social studies teachers is also addressed.

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.

In contrast to the ‘bell-curve thinking’ which can shape many teachers’ assumptions of student ability (Fendler, L., & Muzaffar, I. (2008). The history of the bell curve: Sorting and the idea of normal. Educational Theory, 58(1), 63–82.; Florian & Black-Hawkins, 2011; Thomas, G., & Loxley, A. (2007). Deconstructing special education and constructing inclusion. New York, NY: McGraw-Hill International.), some researchers have been examining the ways in which teachers can shift their deterministic understandings of student capacities (see, Graham, A. (2014). Embodiment of knowledge and inclusive pedagogy.; Spratt, J., & Florian, L. (2014). Developing and using a framework for gauging the use of inclusive pedagogy by new and experienced teachers. In C. Forlin, T. Loreman (Eds.), Measuring inclusive education (Vol. 3, pp. 263–278). International Perspectives on Inclusive Education. Bingley, UK: Emerald Group Publishing Limited.). Despite the adverse effects on student self-efficacy and performance (Fraser, S. (1995). The bell curve wars: Race, intelligence, and the future of America. New York, NY: Basic Books.) that can result from teachers’ assumptions about students’ ability, evidence of teachers’ inclusive education practices can be difficult to find (Forlin, C. (2010). Teacher education for inclusion: Changing paradigms and innovative approaches. London: Routledge.; Jones, P. (2013). Bringing insider perspectives into inclusive teacher learning: Potentials and challenges for educational professionals. London: Routledge.). This chapter begins to address the lack of evidence of inclusive educational practices in some Geography classrooms. The chapter begins by providing an overview of literature which outlines how the development and sharing of pedagogical content knowledge (PCK) can enhance effective inclusive practices in Geography classrooms. In contrast to many previous considerations of PCK as a teacher-focussed, individual attribute, this chapter presents an argument that the development of communal or distributed PCK in Geography classrooms can not only enhance creative ways for all students to participate in classroom life but also creates a sense of interdependence between teachers and students to create new knowledge, which in turn links to notions of identity development and inclusive practices. Finally, this chapter presents examples of ways in which Geography teachers can enact inclusive pedagogical approaches in both primary and secondary school contexts.

To understand how lesson study (LS) can promote the development of pedagogical content knowledge (PCK) of prospective primary teachers. More specifically, to know what PCK prospective primary teachers develop during LS and how this development occurs.

Following a qualitative approach, this study took place in a teacher education institution where a LS was carried out during the last semester of the academic year with the participation of two prospective teachers, a teacher educator, a cooperating teacher and a researcher.

The results suggest that prospective teachers may develop PCK when they participate in LS, regarding lesson planning (goals and lesson plan), task design, students' difficulties and solving strategies, whole-class discussions and observation of student learning. This development occurs through the engagement in LS activities that allow prospective teachers to deepen their knowledge.

This study investigates how the development of prospective teachers' PCK occurs during LS, providing knowledge about how different activities of the LS help develop different aspects of PCK.

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 investigate the development of mathematics teachers’ pedagogical content knowledge (PCK) over successive cycles of lesson study. Utilising the framework of mathematical knowledge for teaching (MKT) (Ball et al., 2008), this research classifies features of PCK as utilised by post-primary mathematics teachers in their planning and reflection conversations in lesson study. The development of these features of PCK is then traced over successive cycles.

In total, 12 teachers in two Irish post-primary schools participated in this research. Over the course of one academic year, these two groups of teachers completed a number of cycles of lesson study and qualitative data were generated through audio recordings of all lesson study meetings and through individual interviews with participants.

Analysis of teacher dialogue reveals distinct features of knowledge of content and students (KCS) and knowledge of content and teaching (KCT) incorporated by these teachers in their planning and reflection conversations, providing empirical evidence of MKT in lesson study. The occurrence of these features of KCS and KCT in lesson study conversations increased over successive cycles, demonstrating teacher learning.

This research contributes to the literature in expanding the theoretical underpinnings of teacher learning in lesson study. It also provides further empirical evidence of MKT (Ball et al., 2008) in teacher practice, specifically related to post-primary mathematics teachers.

This study aims to focus on how preservice teachers' academic achievements, their frequencies of connecting to the distance learning management system, their gender and the related sub-scales influence their Web-based self-efficacies (WEB-PCK) and their attitudes towards distance education (WBI).

In the study, the structural equality model was used. In the path analysis, the maximum likelihood estimation method was used to predict the parameters of the model. This method allows determining the highest values for the population and the probability of the sample value to occur.

It was found that the sub-scale of Web communication (WEB-C) had a high level of direct and positive influence on the male preservice teachers' self-efficacy perceptions. As for the female preservice teachers, WEB-C did not have any direct influence on their self-efficacy perceptions. For the male preservice teachers, Web pedagogy (WEB-PC) had positive influence on their self-efficacy perceptions (β = 0.193), while the sub-scale of WEB-PC had a high level of influence on the female preservice teachers' self-efficacy perceptions (β = 0.534).

In the study, the purpose of was to examine the effects of the attitudes of the preservice teachers towards Web general (WEB-G), Web-Communication (WEB-C), Web pedagogical knowledge (WEB-PK), Web pedagogical self-efficacy (WEB-PCK) and Web-based instruction (WBI) with the help of the structural equation model with respect to gender, frequency of connection to the internet and academic achievement grades.

This study aims to describe the pedagogical content knowledge (PCK) of a kindergarten educator who implements a lesson plan about informal inferential reasoning designed in a lesson study group.

To this end, we analyzed teaching interventions in two kindergarten lessons focused on the playful task of tossing two coins, associated with inferential statistical reasoning. The study highlights the importance of arguing and promoting this reasoning to develop statistical thinking. It is crucial to recognize how early students can be subject to learning experiences that promote a language of uncertainty, assess the evidence provided by the data, and make generalizations.

The results reveal that while the educator demonstrated knowledge and skills relevant to the curriculum and conceptual teaching strategies, the understanding of the content by the students and the integration of the PCK components still present a challenge.

The lesson study collaborative teaching practices that promote PCK have proven effective for informing the design and implementation of instructional practices supporting the development of early statistical thinking in young children.

The study enriches the knowledge regarding the potential of the lesson study (LS) in the professional learning of kindergarten educators. It also contributes to a comprehensive approach based on authentic playful experiences in grade K that supports the development of early statistical thinking in young children.