Pedagogical Content Knowledge (PCK) has been defined as a form of practical knowledge of how to teach a specific content (Shulman, 1986). It is a synthesis of pedagogical knowledge (knowing about teaching) and content knowledge (knowing about what they teach). PCK was first defined by Shulman (1986) as a theoretical construct, later empirically supported by qualitative data which helped identification of its components in a ‘knowledge quartet’ (Rowland, et al., 2005). Even though PCK starts to develops when teachers begin teaching in their regular classes, the development can be fostered during pre-service teacher education through experience and reflective practices (Nilssen, 2008). The role of feedback from peers has been found to be essential in teacher education (Wilkins, et.al., 2009). Recent studies have shown that pre-service teachers who receive feedback from their peers found to improve their reflective and critical thinking skills (Wu & Kao, 2008). This process can also be enriched by including international perspectives. The aim of this study was to investigate the effects of getting feedback from international and local peers in pre-service chemistry teachers’ understanding of PCK. In this study, an eight-week international collaboration was designed between Turkey and Holland while pre-service chemistry teachers in both countries were taking the teaching methods course. In the begining of the program, students watched a video of experienced science teacher and determined the practices and knowledge that the teacher had. Then, they read articles on PCK, specifically on Rowland’s knowledge quartet, did group jigsaw activities, and class discussions. Next, students were randomly assigned to have international or local feedback peers; leading to 7 Turkish-Dutch and 6 Turkish-Turkish peer groups. Then, students watched a 20 minute practice teaching video of a Turkish pre-service chemistry teacher, and identified the specific dimensions of PCK in knowledge quartet and give feedback to their peers. After revizing their analysis based on the feedback of peers, they wrote a reflection on their experience. This procedure had been repeated for a Dutch pre-service chemistry teacher. At the end, as post assessment, students watched the first video again and answered the same questions.The results of the analysis showed various the effetcs of internationalization and peer feedback practices on pre-service teachers’ understanding of PCK.

Role of internationalization in the development of pedagogical content knowledge of<br />pre-service chemistry teachers

249th National Meeting (2015)

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