The Teacher Trainer as Researcher: Exploring the initial pedagogical content concerns of prospective...

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This article was downloaded by: [University of Calgary] On: 04 October 2013, At: 05:11 Publisher: Routledge Informa Ltd Registered in England and Wales Registered Number: 1072954 Registered office: Mortimer House, 37-41 Mortimer Street, London W1T 3JH, UK European Journal of Teacher Education Publication details, including instructions for authors and subscription information: http://www.tandfonline.com/loi/cete20 The Teacher Trainer as Researcher: Exploring the initial pedagogical content concerns of prospective science teachers Onno de Jong Published online: 01 Jul 2010. To cite this article: Onno de Jong (2000) The Teacher Trainer as Researcher: Exploring the initial pedagogical content concerns of prospective science teachers, European Journal of Teacher Education, 23:2, 127-137, DOI: 10.1080/713667273 To link to this article: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/713667273 PLEASE SCROLL DOWN FOR ARTICLE Taylor & Francis makes every effort to ensure the accuracy of all the information (the “Content”) contained in the publications on our platform. However, Taylor & Francis, our agents, and our licensors make no representations or warranties whatsoever as to the accuracy, completeness, or suitability for any purpose of the Content. Any opinions and views expressed in this publication are the opinions and views of the authors, and are not the views of or endorsed by Taylor & Francis. The accuracy of the Content should not be relied upon and should be independently verified with primary sources of information. Taylor and Francis shall not be liable for any losses, actions, claims, proceedings, demands, costs, expenses, damages, and other liabilities whatsoever or howsoever caused arising directly or indirectly in connection with, in relation to or arising out of the use of the Content. This article may be used for research, teaching, and private study purposes. Any substantial or systematic reproduction, redistribution, reselling, loan, sub-licensing, systematic supply, or distribution in any form to anyone is expressly forbidden. Terms & Conditions of access

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This article was downloaded by: [University of Calgary]On: 04 October 2013, At: 05:11Publisher: RoutledgeInforma Ltd Registered in England and Wales Registered Number:1072954 Registered office: Mortimer House, 37-41 Mortimer Street,London W1T 3JH, UK

European Journal of TeacherEducationPublication details, including instructions forauthors and subscription information:http://www.tandfonline.com/loi/cete20

The Teacher Trainer asResearcher: Exploring theinitial pedagogical contentconcerns of prospectivescience teachersOnno de JongPublished online: 01 Jul 2010.

To cite this article: Onno de Jong (2000) The Teacher Trainer as Researcher:Exploring the initial pedagogical content concerns of prospective science teachers,European Journal of Teacher Education, 23:2, 127-137, DOI: 10.1080/713667273

To link to this article: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/713667273

PLEASE SCROLL DOWN FOR ARTICLE

Taylor & Francis makes every effort to ensure the accuracy of allthe information (the “Content”) contained in the publications on ourplatform. However, Taylor & Francis, our agents, and our licensorsmake no representations or warranties whatsoever as to the accuracy,completeness, or suitability for any purpose of the Content. Any opinionsand views expressed in this publication are the opinions and views ofthe authors, and are not the views of or endorsed by Taylor & Francis.The accuracy of the Content should not be relied upon and should beindependently verified with primary sources of information. Taylor andFrancis shall not be liable for any losses, actions, claims, proceedings,demands, costs, expenses, damages, and other liabilities whatsoeveror howsoever caused arising directly or indirectly in connection with, inrelation to or arising out of the use of the Content.

This article may be used for research, teaching, and private studypurposes. Any substantial or systematic reproduction, redistribution,reselling, loan, sub-licensing, systematic supply, or distribution in anyform to anyone is expressly forbidden. Terms & Conditions of access

and use can be found at http://www.tandfonline.com/page/terms-and-conditions

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European Journal of Teacher Education, Vol. 23, No. 2, 2000

The Teacher Trainer as Researcher: exploring theinitial pedagogical content concerns of prospectivescience teachers

ONNO DE JONG

SUMMARY This article presents a study of prospective teachers’ initial concerns abouttransforming their academic knowledge into teaching activities (pedagogical content concerns).An important part of the study focuses on a research tool for teacher trainers to explore theseconcerns. A group of fourteen prospective chemistry teachers was invited to prepare individuallythe � rst two lessons on a chemistry topic to classes (age 16–17) from pre-university schools.During a group meeting, the lesson plans were presented and discussed. Research data wereobtained from audio-taped semi-structured interviews in two settings: an individual session anda group meeting session. The results reveal a number of characteristics of prospective teachers’pedagogical content concerns. Implications of the study for teacher preparation courses will alsobe presented.

RESUME Cet article presente une etude sur les principales inquietudes des futurs professeurs,concernant la mise en application de leurs savoirs academiques sous forme d’activitesd’enseignement (dimension pedagogique). Une part importante de ce travail est centree sur unprotocole d’investigation a l’attention des formateurs de formateurs, concernant l’exploration deces inquietudes. Quatorze aspirants professeurs de chimie ont ete sollicites individuellement parla preparation des deux premieres lecons d’un theme particulier de chimie, pour des classespre-universitaires (16–17 ans). Les plans de ces lecons ont ensuite ete presentes et discutes aucours d’une reunion. Les donnees experimentales ont ete obtenues a partir d’entretiens semi-structures enregistres en deux modalites: en une session individuelle et en une session collective.Les resultats mettent en evidence plusieurs elements caracteristiques de cette anxiete des futursprofesseurs quant au contenu pedagogique. Les consequences de cette etude sur les cyclespreparatoires seront presentees.

RESUMEN Este trabajo presenta un estudio de las percepciones iniciales de futuros profesoresacerca de como transformar su conocimiento academico en actividades de ensenanza (percep-ciones didacticas). Una parte importante del estudio se centra en una herramienta deinvestigacion para que los formadores de profesores exploren estas percepciones. Se requirio acatorce profesores de quõ mica en formacion que disenaran individualmente las dos primeraslecciones de un topico de quõ mica en particular para clases preuniversitarias (16–17 anos). Los

ISSN 0261-9768 print; ISSN 1469-5928 online/00/020127-11Ó 2000 Association for Teacher Education in EuropeDOI: 10.1080/02619760020019719

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programas fueron presentados y discutidos durante un encuentro grupal. Se recolectaron datospor medio de grabaciones de audio de entrevistas semiestructuradas en dos contextos: una sesionindividual y una sesion de grupo. Los resultados revelan ciertas caracter õ sticas de las percep-ciones didacticas de los futuros profesores. Tambien se presentan implicaciones del estudio parala formacion inicial de profesorado.

ZUSAMMENFASSUNG In diesem Artikel wird beschrieben, wie zukunftige Lehrer (zu beginnihrer Ausbildung) ihr Sachwissen in die Unterrichtsplanung ubertragen. Es war wichtig, einInstrument zur Untersuchung dieses Problemfeldes bereitzustellen, das in der Lehrerausbildunggenutzt werden kann. Vierzehn zukunftige Lehrer wurden gebeten, unabhangig voneinanderdie ersten beiden Stunden einer Unterrichtsreihe zu planen. Die Plannung bezog sich aufChemiekurse (Altersgruppe 16–17 Jahre) der “Oberstufe”. Es fand ein Treffen statt, bei demdie Unterrichtsentwurfe vorgestellt und diskutiert wurden. Es wurden halbstrukturierte Einzel-unf Gruppen- interviews durchgefuhrt und auf Tonband aufgenommen. Als Ergebnisse dieserArbeit wird gezeigt, wie die fachdidaktischen Uberlegungen zukunftiger Lehrer beschaften seinkonnen. Aus der Studie werden Vorschlage fur die Lehrerausbildung abgeleitet.

1. Introduction

In recent years, there has been a growing interest in the knowledge base of prospectiveteachers (De Jong & Brinkman, 1999). This development has been stimulated by theconstructivist view that learning is a process in which learners actively constructmeaning from their experiences in connection with their prior understandings. Formany, this view of learning implies that teacher trainers should have an insight intoprospective teachers’ initial and required knowledge base. This base can be dis-tinguished into different categories. A well-known classi� cation, developed by Shulman(1987), can be summarised as: general pedagogical knowledge, content knowledge andpedagogical content knowledge. Shulman (1986) has introduced the concept of peda-gogical content knowledge (PCK) to acknowledge the importance of the transformation ofsubject matter knowledge per se into “subject matter knowledge for teaching” (Shulman,1986, p. 9).

For prospective teachers, the content knowledge acquired during their academicstudies constitutes one of the main bases from which their PCK may be derived.However, the study of an academic discipline may not provide prospective teacherswith the kind of understanding they need effectively to transform their academicknowledge into instructional activities in the classroom (Sanford, 1988). As De Jong etal. (1995) have indicated, teachers’ subject matter knowledge may function as a sourceof dif� culties in teaching curriculum topics.

In general, the transformation of academic knowledge into teaching activities maycause considerable concern to prospective teachers. In this article, by analogy withPCK, the term pedagogical content concern (PCC) is introduced to refer to this kind ofconcern. Teacher trainers are supposed to have insight into the PCC of their studentsin order to help them in a productive way. Unfortunately, little is known aboutprospective teachers’ PCC. The literature on the concerns of prospective teachers dealsalmost exclusively with rather general issues, such as concerns about the developmentof self-image as a teacher (Kagan, 1992) and concerns about workplace constraints(Clandinin, 1989).

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In this article, a study of prospective teachers’ PCC is reported. An important partof the study focuses on a research tool for teacher trainers to explore these concerns. Byusing this tool, the teacher trainers act as researchers, and their explorations maycontribute to improve their teaching practices in a very direct way.

2. Background of the Study

2.1 A Model of Prospective Teachers’ PCC

Regarding the issue of teacher concerns, Fuller & Bown (1975) have described ageneral cluster model of concerns, including the description of changes in the nature ofteacher concerns as stages in the professional development of teachers. These stagescan be summarised as follows:

· Zero stage of pre-teaching concerns: student concernsIn this stage, prospective teachers are concerned about students, because in fact theystill identify with students. They have not yet experienced the realities of the teachingrole.

· First stage of concerns: self concernsThis stage contains concerns on issues such as the self-image and ways to survive in theclassroom. Prospective teachers have more concerns of this type than beginningteachers.

· Second stage of concerns: task concernsThis stage contains concerns about issues such as teaching performance and adequacyof content knowledge. Beginning teachers have more concerns of this type thanprospective teachers.

· Third stage of concerns: student concernsThis stage contains concerns about issues such as understanding students and theirlearning processes. Although this type of concern is expressed by both prospective andbeginning teachers, the prospective teachers feel themselves to be more unable to act onthese concerns.

Although the authors have indicated that their model of concerns is a somewhattentative model, reviews of later research on the concerns of both prospective andbeginning teachers of several disciplines has con� rmed the stage model (Veenman,1984; Kagan, 1992). For example, Veenman (1984) has identi� ed as follows the mostcommon problems, mentioned by beginning teachers of different disciplines (in de-scending order): concerns about classroom discipline, motivating students, dealing withindividual differences among students, assessing students’ work, relationships withparents, organisation of class work, insuf� cient materials and supplies, and dealing withproblems of individual students. This list also shows that it is not so easy to link aparticular problem with a particular stage of Fuller and Bown’s model. Some reportedconcerns can be put into more than one stage. For example, motivating students canbelong partly to self-concern and partly to task concern. The reviews hardly include anystudies giving speci� c information about concerns on how to teach particular curricu-lum topics.

From the cluster model of Fuller and Bown, the subject-matter related content ofeach of the three kinds of concerns cannot be derived. Nevertheless, their model can be

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used to subdivide teachers’ pedagogical content concerns into subcategories. In thisarticle, these subcategories will be denominated as: self-PCC, task-PCC and student-PCC.

2.2 Exploring Prospective Teachers’ Initial PCC

In the present study, the PCC of prospective teachers will be explored in the contextof preparing lessons. As research has shown, the content to be taught is the mostimportant issue in the process of short-term planning of new instructional units (Clark& Peterson, 1986; Sanchez & Valcarcel, 1999). Prospective teachers’ initial PCC canbe investigated by making use of a model to explore prospective teachers’ initial PCK:the Lesson Preparation Method. This method is described by Van der Valk & Broek-man (1999) and several researchers have used it sucessfully (Frederik et al., 1999; DeJong et al., 1999). The method consists of two main parts that can be summarised asfollows:

1. The lesson preparation task:

· Prospective teachers are invited individually to prepare ‘introductory’ lessonsabout a speci� ed topic.

· Lessons (of a given duration) have to be aimed at a class of certain age and level.· Prospective teachers are not allowed to consult any textbook and they are told to

assume that a number of speci� ed curriculum topics had been taught beforehand.

2. The individual interview:

· Prospective teachers are invited individually to explain their written lesson plans.· Prospective teachers have to answer a number of speci� c open questions, for

example, about their knowledge of the curriculum topic.

Teacher trainers who are interested in the initial PCC of their students couldexplore these concerns by using the Lesson Preparation Method. However, the time-consuming activity of interviewing individually may be not very attractive to manyteacher trainers. To them, interviewing during a regular course meeting could be amore attractive approach. This alternative can be carried out as follows:

3. The group meeting interview:

· Prospective teachers are invited to explain their written lesson plans and to lead aplenary discussion of them.

· In the context of this discussion, prospective teachers have to answer a number ofspeci� c open questions, for example, about their knowledge of the curriculumtopic.

In the group meeting setting, the teacher trainer, as well as the prospective teachers,receive almost instantaneous information and the concerns can be discussed immedi-ately in order to develop promising coping strategies. The proposed alternative LessonPreparation Method includes a more realistic setting for exploring concerns and,moreover, the alternative Method � ts better the usual teaching practice of teachertrainers. In conclusion, the alternative Method provides an opportunity to teachertrainers to act as researchers in improving their teaching practice.

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3. Topic and Research Questions

Interviews in an open course meeting setting may not provide the same results asinterviews in a more closed face-to-face setting. In the context of exploring prospectiveteachers’ initial PCC, the present study focuses on a comparison of both settings. Forthat reason, the following research questions have been formulated:

· Are there differences between the results of the interviews (about prospectiveteachers’ initial PCC) in an individual setting and in a course meeting setting?

· If so, what are these differences?

In this study, the initial PCC will regard a central topic in science teaching at uppersecondary school level, namely, teaching the topic of heat involved in chemicalreactions. Secondary school students experience dif� culties in understanding the con-cept of heat. Most of the studies of their dif� culties deal with understanding ‘heat’ ina physics context. A comprehensive review of these studies is given by Driver et al.(1994). The main dif� culties appear to be: distinguishing between ‘heat’ and ‘tempera-ture’, thinking of ‘heat’ as a � ow of hot ‘matter’ and conceiving ‘heat’ as a property ofa substance. A minority of the studies deal with students’ understanding of ‘heat’ in achemistry context. A comprehensive review is given by Boo (1998). The main dif� cultiesappear to be: explaining the temperature change when a salt is dissolved in water andconceiving the forming of bonds as a process which requires energy, like making things,and as a consequence, the breaking of bonds as a process which releases energy. Inconclusion, the very existence of these conceptual dif� culties underlines the need forappropriate teaching of this topic.

The present study also focuses on answering the following question:

· What initial PCC do prospective teachers exhibit regarding the teaching of heat involvedin chemical reactions?

More speci� cally, the initial PCC will be distinguished into self-PCC, task-PCC andstudent-PCC.

4. Design and Procedure

Given the exploratory nature of this study, a naturalistic case-study design was chosen.A phenomenological perspective on the analysis of interview data (Cohen & Manion,1994) was adopted. In this study, the author of this article acted as a researcher as wellas a quali� ed science teacher trainer of the prospective teachers involved.

4.1 The Participants and Their Context

Dutch prospective teachers wanting to become quali� ed teachers at secondary schools(upper level) have to take a university pre-service course. This course consists of twocomponents: a pre-degree course (2 months) and a post-degree course (one year). Thepre-degree course can be considered as a preliminary orientation towards secondaryschool education and the teaching profession. Taken from the pre-degree course,fourteen prospective chemistry teachers (eleven males and three females, of an averageage of 22 years) were involved in the research project.

All participants had entered the university (on average) four years earlier, and theywere � nishing their study in chemistry. They entered the research project at the end of

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the pre-degree course. The participants had completed various workshops, for instanceconcerning the nature of science, the chemistry curriculum, students’ preconceptionsand teaching and learning chemistry topics. They had also gained a two-week experi-ence of observing and evaluating chemistry teaching in the classroom and a two-weekexperience of teaching chemistry by themselves. The prospective teachers were notconfronted with students’ preconceptions of ‘heat’ in a science context and had no priorexperience in observing, preparing or conducting lessons on this topic.

4.2 The Research Setting

The participants were invited individually to prepare the � rst two (50-minute) lessonson heat involved in reactions in solutions. These lessons were meant to be aimed at aclass of mixed ability students of grade 11 (age 16–17) from pre-university schools.This grade in the Netherlands is the second year of the higher secondary level and isthe third year of chemistry. The prospective teachers were told to assume that a numberof speci� ed curriculum topics had been taught beforehand [1]. They were not allowedto consult any textbook. As a substitute, they were asked to incorporate two classroomexperiments taken from the (current) school textbooks and used by the prospectiveteachers when they themselves were schoolboys/girls. The experiments deal with thedissolving of a salt in water (temperature decreases), and the mixing of a solution of anacid with a solution of a base (temperature increases) [2].

After the lesson plans had been drawn up, and during a subsequent interview, eachprospective teacher was invited to explain the prepared lessons. They were also askedto answer some open questions. These questions chie� y aimed at the expectations ofstudents’ conceptual dif� culties, as well as their own dif� culties in teaching the topic.

Some days later, a regular course meeting was organised. Because of that plannedmeeting, the prospective teachers were asked after each interview not to report theirlesson plans to each other and not to consult any textbook. During the meeting, theprospective teachers explained their lesson plans and had a plenary discussion of them.In the context of this discussion, the prospective teachers had to answer the samespeci� ed open questions as asked previously.

4.3 Obtaining and Analysing Data

All the individual interviews and the group meeting were audio-taped and the state-ments were transcribed into protocols. The analysis of the data was performed using aphased procedure. In the � rst phase, the interview protocols of each prospective teacherwere repeatedly read. The content was analysed in an iterative way using the categoriesself-PCC, task-PCC and student-PCC. Subsequently, within each category, statementswere classi� ed into sub-categories. In the � nal phase, analysis results of the individualswere compared to identify common concerns. The analysis of the group meetingprotocols was performed in the same way.

The validation of the interpretations was promoted by applying the constantcomparative method (Denzin, 1994). This involved the comparison of the analysisresults of the protocols with additional data, especially chemistry textbooks for schooland university, to trace the possible origins of the prospective teachers’ statements.

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TABLE I. Summary of pedagogical content concerns (PCC) expressed by 14prospective teachers

Category of interview setting NumberIndividual expressed PCC Group of teachers

Self-PCCLack of self-con� dence in knowledge of:Theme 1: the relationship between heat and temperature 8 6Theme 2: the relationship between bond energies and 2 2temperature changesTheme 3: the relationship between energy levels and 4 3temperature changesOther aspects of the curriculum topic 3 3

Task-PCCStrategies of the teaching of:Theme 1: the relationship between heat and temperature 5 6Theme 2: the chain of conceptual steps in the ‘bond energy’ 6 8schemeTheme 3: the chain of conceptual steps in the ‘energy level’ 5 5scheme

Student-PCCStudents’ dif� culties in the understanding of:Theme 1: the relationship between heat and temperature 4 5Theme 2: the relationship between bond energies and 7 7temperature changesTheme 3: the relationship between energy levels and 5 5temperature changesOther aspects of the curriculum topic 3 3

5. The Reported Pedagogical Content Concerns

Before presenting the results, it must be noted that the prospective teachers appearedto use more or less the same overall lesson design. They wanted to start the lesson serieswith a concise review of the main relevant concepts that had been taught before.Subsequently, they wanted to pay attention to the classroom experiments, especially tothe explanations of the (recorded) temperature changes. Regarding the proposedexplanations, two ways of reasoning were distinguished, which are summarised asfollows. A small majority (eight) of the prospective teachers wanted to refer to thereaction equation and used ‘bond energy’ as the key explanatory concept. They wantedto point out that the breaking (or forming) of bonds requires (or releases) energy. Alarge minority (six) of the prospective teachers wanted to refer to an energy diagramand used ‘energy level’ as the key explanatory concept. They wanted to indicate that thedifference between the level for the reactants and the level for the products re� ects therequirement for (or the release of) energy. All prospective teachers wanted to point outthat energy, in the form of heat, which has gone away from (or goes to) the water,causes a temperature decrease (or increase).

A concise overview of the pedagogical content concerns that are expressed duringthe two interview sessions, is given in Table I. Nearly all concerns are in connectionwith one of the following subject-matter related themes: the relationship between theconcepts of heat and temperature (theme 1); the relationship between the concepts ofbond energy and temperature change (theme 2); and the relationship between the

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concepts of energy level and temperature change (theme 3). Only a small number ofconcerns are related to other aspects of the topic of heat involved in reactions, namely,selecting an appropriate system and its surroundings and the formula for heat ofreaction. Regarding the three main themes together, all prospective teachers have givenone or more examples of self-PCC, as well as task-PCC and student-PCC.

Regarding self-PCC, the prospective teachers expressed this concern mainly byreporting a lack of self-evidence in their knowledge of the relationship between theconcepts of heat and temperature. A representative example of statements re� ectingthis self-PCC is the following one:

Well, what is heat precisely. I just have to look it up in a textbook aboutthermodynamics, also what temperature is, because I do not know it one, two,three. I just have to look it up.

Regarding task-PCC, prospective teachers mainly wondered how to teach the relation-ship between concepts of bond energy and temperature change. Student-PCC is mainlyexpressed by expecting students’ dif� culties in understanding this category of relation-ship. A representative example of statements re� ecting student-PCC together withtask-PCC is the following one:

I expect dif� culties in students’ insights in the bonds, the breaking andbuilding of those bonds, that cost heat and can release energy. It costs heat orit absorbs heat, but they have no idea of the meaning of that bond. … WhenI put down two tennis balls together, then it is not true that, in case I separatethem, that they become colder …. because they have learnt about moleculesas small balls.

6. Discussion and Implications for Teacher Preparation Courses

The present study provides a better understanding of the nature of prospectiveteachers’ pedagogical content concerns in relation to Fuller and Bown’s model ofconcerns (see Section 2.1). The present results show that prospective teachers’ PCCcan be classi� ed very fruitfully into the categories self-PCC, task-PCC and student-PCC. The results also indicate that each of these categories is reported more or less tothe same extent. In other words, none of them is the single distinguishing characteristicof prospective teachers’ initial PCC; they are all characteristic. This result does notcorrespond with Fuller and Bown’s model, because, according to this model, studentconcerns (zero stage) and self-concerns (� rst stage) are expected to be the mostdominant. It might be that prospective teachers express these concerns only wheninvited to talk about their concerns in general terms. Nevertheless, the present resultsindicate that prospective teachers are inclined to broaden their concerns when asked totalk about the speci� c issue of transforming their academic knowledge into teachingactivities.

In conclusion, although Fuller and Bown’s model is useful in subdividing prospectiveteachers’ PCC into the very fruitful categories self-PCC, task-PCC and student-PCC, themodel is not very useful in deducing the dominant kind of prospective teachers’ initial PCC.

The comparison of the interviews results show that the differences between theindividual setting and the group setting are rather small. The slight decrease ofstatements re� ecting self-PCC can be caused by differences in the psychologicalatmosphere of the setting. Prospective teachers may consider the open group meetingas somewhat more threatening for expressing personal thoughts than the more intimate

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TABLE II. The adapted lesson preparation method

The lesson preparation task:

· During a course meeting, the prospective teachers are invited to cooperate in pairs to prepare‘introductory’ lessons about a speci� ed topic.

· The lessons (of a given duration) will have to be aimed at a class of certain age and level.· The pairs are not allowed to consult any textbook and they are told to assume that a number of

speci� ed curriculum topics had been taught beforehand.

The group meeting interview:

· Each pair is invited to explain their written lesson plan in a plenary session.· In the context of a plenary discussion, the prospective teachers will have to answer a number of speci� c

open questions, for example, about their knowledge of the curriculum topic.

setting of a one-to-one contact. The slight increase of statements re� ecting task-PCCcan be caused by the group discussion, especially the critical comments of someprospective teachers on the validity of one of the suggested ways of explaining i.c.temperature changes. In conclusion, the setting of a group meeting may stimulate prospec-tive teachers to be careful when expressing their self-PCC, but the group discussions may alsostimulate prospective teachers to express their task-PCC.

The results also indicate that all prospective chemistry teachers express concernsabout the teaching of the concept of heat involved in chemical reactions, especiallywhen they prefer to use the concept of ‘bond energy’ as a key explanatory concept. Theyare aware of their own conceptual dif� culties and, probably for that reason, expect that theirstudents will have the same dif� culties. This kind of correlation is also found amongprospective science teachers who had to express their concerns about teaching ‘heat andtemperature’ in a physics context (Frederik et al., 1999).

The study has the character of an exploration of the rather unknown � eld of studentteachers’ concerns about teaching curriculum topics. The research methodology itselfis interesting. Although the planning exercise provides the contextual information forthe study, it is the interviews and the group meeting discussions that provides the bulkof the illuminative information for the study. It is clear that the value of the results isrestricted by the fact that prospective teachers’ concerns have only been investigated inthe context of the preparation of two lessons. Nevertheless, by using a variety ofresearch instruments (written lesson plan, interview, group discussion), it appears to bepossible to collect interesting data. For that reason, research on prospective teachers’concerns about the teaching of topics other than the present topic should be initiated.

This study has some important implications for pre-service teacher preparationcourses. These courses should pay attention to the concerns of their students, and alsoto their PCC. Based on the data presented here, it can be stated that the regular coursemeeting, by comparison with the individual interview setting, will be a more attractive settingfor teacher trainers to interview their students about their PCC. Teacher trainers couldgain even more time by asking their students to work together in small groups, forinstance in pairs. In that case, the Lesson Preparation Method (see Section 2.2) can beadapted as given in Table II.

In this way, the teacher trainer as well as the prospective teachers are almostinstantly informed about the existing concerns. The prospective teachers will becomemotivated to read literature on students’ conceptual dif� culties and to relate thesedif� culties to their own PCC.

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Subsequently, they may analyse relevant parts of current textbooks and discuss thequality and usefulness of their content. As a consequence, they may formulate inten-tions for the teaching of a speci� c topic in their own classes. After these teachingactivities, the prospective teachers may re� ect on their teaching and the PCC that haveemerged. The results of these re� ections on the new PCC can function as a startingpoint for new teaching intentions.

Pre-service courses incorporating the Adapted Lesson Preparation Method provideteacher trainers with the opportunity to act as researchers in improving their teachingpractices. If the results of the exploration of the initial PCC are used to developintentions for the teaching of speci� c topics (in the way described before), the coursemay also provide prospective teachers with the opportunity to improve their teachingactivities. In order to con� rm these expectations, further research in the � eld ofprospective teachers’ pedagogical content concerns should be initiated.

NOTES

[1] The prospective teachers were told that the usual curriculum topics had beentaught before, such as (from physics lessons) the concepts of temperature, heat(law of conservation of) energy, and (from chemistry lessons) the topics of(exothermic and endothermic) reactions, reaction equations (using formulas) andtypes of bonds (such as atomic bond, molecular bond and ionic bond).

[2] The � rst experiment deals with the adding of 12 g of ammonium chloride to100 ml of water (temperature decreases). The second experiment deals with theadding of 25 ml of hydrochloric acid solution (1.0 M) to 25 ml of sodiumhydroxide solution (1.0 M) (temperature increases). Both reactions have to takeplace in an insulated container (with thermometer).

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Correspondence : O. de Jong, IVLOS Institute of Education, Department of ChemicalEducation, Utrecht University, Princetonplein 5, 3584 CC Utrecht, The Netherlands;E-mail: , [email protected] . .

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