Transforming subject‐matter knowledge: the role of pedagogical content knowledge in learning to reflect on teaching

Abstract

Many beginning teachers view teaching as a simple transmission of subject‐matter knowledge to students. This paper explores how the concept of pedagogical content knowledge can play a critical role in (i) clarifying the need for teachers to transform content knowledge into forms that are accessible to children, and (ii) reflecting on how to accomplish this transformation. A vignette, of a group of preservice secondary science teachers as they reflect on children's misconceptions about electrical current, is used to illustrate how inquiring into the manner in which students might reasonably hold such conceptions can lead to subject‐matter representations and teaching strategies with the potential for promoting the reasoned adoption of a scientific view of electrical current.