Physics Teacher Education – from Professional Knowledge to Professional Performance and Beyond

Dear Colleagues,

Over the last decade, physics teacher education has increasingly become the focus of empirical research. Traditional approaches have been evaluated and an appreciation of the need for evidence-driven approaches to physics teacher education has emerged (Milner-Bolotin, 2018). Models for physics teachers’ professional knowledge and their pedagogical content knowledge (PCK) have been developed (Carlson and Daehler, 2019; Park and Oliver, 2008). Test instruments have been developed for different aspects of professional knowledge (Fischer et al., 2014) and concepts addressing the development of knowledge and skills in academic teacher education and beyond have been evaluated (Nordine et al., 2021). The relationship between physics teachers’ knowledge and their practical skills has also been researched, with the goal of developing empirically supported arguments for the ways in which professional knowledge addressed in physics teacher education has an impact on physics teachers’ instructional quality—or even their students’ achievement (e.g., Cauet et al. 2015; Ergönenc, Neumann, and Fischer, 2016). That resulted—among other things—in the development of performance assessments for (pre-service) physics teachers (Alonzo, Berry, and Nilsson, 2019; Kulgemeyer and Riese, 2018). It is unclear, however, to what degree this research has had a practical impact on physics teacher education (Schiering, Sorge, and Neumann, 2021).

This Special Issue of Education Sciences aims to reflect current empirical research in the field of physics teacher education to identify research desiderata and to critically discuss models and empirical methods that impact the development of physics teacher education.

We invite original research on physics teacher education, in particular studies on professional knowledge and skills, including methodological papers. We also welcome theoretical papers discussing the future of physics teacher education and more practically oriented papers presenting novel approaches for developing the knowledge and skills physics teachers require.

Literature

Alonzo, A., Berry, A., & Nilsson, P. (2019). Unpacking the complexity of science teachers' PCK in action: Enacted and personal PCK. In A. Hume, R. Cooper, & A. Borowski(Eds.), Repositioning pedagogical content knowledge in teachers' knowledge for teaching science (pp. 93–116). Singapore: Springer.

Carlson, J., & Daehler, K. (2019). The refined consensus model of pedagogical content knowledge in science education. In A. Hume, R. Cooper, & A. Borowski(Eds.), Repositioning pedagogical content knowledge in teachers' knowledge for teaching science (pp. 93–116). Singapore: Springer.

Cauet, E., Liepertz, S., Kirschner, S., Borowski, A., & Fischer, H. E. (2015). Does it matter what we measure? Domain-specific professional knowledge of physics teachers. Revue Suisse des Sciences de l'Education, 37(3), 462–479.

Ergöneç, J., Neumann, K., & Fischer, H. (2014). The impact of pedagogical content knowledge on cognitive activa- tion and student learning. In H. E. Fischer, P. Labudde, K. Neumann, & J. Viiri (Eds.), Quality of instruction in physics. Comparing Finland, Germany and Switzerland (pp. 145–160). Münster, Germany: Waxmann.

Fischer, H., Neumann, K., Labudde, P., & Viiri, J. (Eds.). (2014b). Quality of instruction in physics. Comparing Finland, Germany and Switzerland. M€unster, Germany: Waxmann.

Kulgemeyer, C., & Riese, J. (2018). From professional knowledge to professional performance: The impact of CK and PCK on teaching quality in explaining situations. Journal of Research in Science Teaching, 55(10), 1393–1418.

Milner-Bolotin, M. (2018). Evidence-Based Research in STEM Teacher Education: From Theory to Practice. Frontiers in Education, 3. https://doi.org/10.3389/feduc.2018.00092

Nordine, J., Sorge, S., Delen, I., Evans, R., Juuti, K., Lavonen, J., Nilsson, P., Ropohl, M., & Stadler, M. (2021). Promoting Coherent Science Instruction through Coherent Science Teacher Education: A Model Framework for Program Design. Journal of Science Teacher Education, 0(0), 1–23. https://doi.org/10.1080/1046560X.2021.1902631

Park, S., & Oliver, J. S. (2008). Revisiting the conceptualisation of pedagogical content knowledge (PCK): PCK as a conceptual tool to understand teachers as professionals. Research in Science Education, 38(3), 261–284.

Schiering, D., Sorge, S., & Neumann, K. (2021). Hilft viel viel? Der Einfluss von Studienstrukturen auf das Professionswissen angehender Physiklehrkräfte [The more, the better? The influence of learning opportunities in physics teacher training programs]. Zeitschrift für Erziehungswissenschaft. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11618-021-01003-w

Prof. Dr. Christoph Kulgemeyer
Prof. Dr. David Geelan
Guest Editors

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