The Pedagogical Content Knowledge (PCK) of a Chemistry Student Teacher: An Experience in Pre-Service Education

Abstract

The aim of this study was to analyze the development of the PCK of a Chemistry student teacher, from a university in southern Brazil, during teaching activities in the Supervised Internship. The theoretical basis adopted in this study was the PCK theory proposed by Shulman (1986, 1987) and some models that unfolded from it. Data collection occurred through audio recordings of the discussions that took place between the student teacher and the teacher educator during the planning of the teaching activities and after their implementation. These discussions were transcribed and the student teacher’s speeches were analyzed based on discursive textual analysis. During planning, the mobilization of the student teacher’s PCK had as a starting point the content knowledge, which supported the mobilization of other knowledge from the base, such as general pedagogical knowledge and knowledge of the context, influenced by teaching purposes and strategies and by the situations experienced with students. After the classes were taught, the PCK presented itself through a reflective process that gave rise to five categories: Learning, Participation, Planning, Teacher-Student Interaction and Pedagogical Content Mediation, particularities that were part of the PCK and that were expanded by the validation of the practice itself. Therefore, we defend that the development of the student teacher’s PCK occurred in association between the integrative and transformative models proposed by Gess-Newsome (1999).