A case study exploring the pedagogical content knowledge of intermediate phase Mathematics teachers.

Abstract

The poor performance of South African learners in mathematics has been a cause of great concern. Various factors have been identified which contribute to learners’ underperformance and amongst these factors, is that of teacher knowledge. Shulman (1986) who was the initial researcher on teacher knowledge, categorized seven knowledge domains. These knowledge domains include: content knowledge, general pedagogical knowledge, curriculum knowledge, knowledge of learners and their characteristics, knowledge of educational contexts, knowledge of educational purposes and values and pedagogical content knowledge (PCK). PCK is deemed as the knowledge domain that makes “teachers, teachers” rather than subject experts (Cochran, King and DeRuiter, 1993). This study has therefore focused on this specific knowledge domain. The purpose of this study was to explore the pedagogical content knowledge (PCK) of two Grade Six mathematics teachers from the Umgungundlovu district in KwaZulu- Natal. The study focused on the categories of PCK that the teachers drew on when teaching 2D and 3D shapes. The teachers were purposively selected on the basis of having five years or more of teaching experience and their willingness to participate in the research. The study was guided by a qualitative case study method and located within the interpretive paradigm. Structured lesson observations and video stimulated interviews were used as data collection methods. The video stimulated interviews were transcribed and Ball et al’s. (2008) framework on Mathematics Knowledge for Teaching (MKT) with a specific focus on PCK was used to analyze the data. The data was coded according to the three categories of PCK in the MKT framework. These categories are comprised of Knowledge of Content and Curriculum (KCC), Knowledge of Content and Teaching (KCT) and Knowledge of Content and Students. The findings of this study suggest that the teachers implemented KCC, KCS and KCT in their teaching of 2D and 3D shapes. However, it was also observed that both teachers failed to address the incorrect responses provided by their learners. The issue of time constraints was identified as a possible factor that could have contributed to the teachers’ inability to probe deeper into the learners’ misconceptions. In addition to this, the study also aimed to describe the nature of the relationship between the teachers’ PCK and pedagogic decision making. The results of this study also suggest that the teachers’ KCS and KCC greatly influenced their pedagogic decision making and a call for further research in this area is suggested.