How can the science methods course help?
This study investigates the perspectives of prospective chemistry teachers regarding activities and interactions important toward enriching pedagogical content knowledge (PCK) during a secondary physical science methods course. Case study methodology was used for four prospective chemistry teachers to investigate the activities and interactions involved in the enrichment of PCK. Each subject drew three concept maps, one representing the subject’s content knowledge of a particular topic, another outlining the subject’s intended teaching method for the topic, and the third indicating the subject’s concerns with regards to teaching the topic. The subjects were then interviewed to determine the subject’s prior knowledge structure regarding the topic. Throughout the semester, subjects participated in the normal activities of the methods course, including performing three microteaching episodes. Following each episode, subjects reviewed and made changes on the previously drawn maps. Changes
