Enhancing pedagogical content knowledge in a collaborative school-based professional development program for inquiry-based science teaching

The model employed in this study presented considerable challenges to the teachers with respect to the development of SMK and PCK. The first challenge for primary school teachers is to equip themselves with the knowledge about the nature and processes of scientific inquiry, and to re-orientate their view of their role from that of knowledge provider to that of facilitator of inquiry. There may be no need for them to impart substantial subject matter to their students, as is required of their secondary school counterparts. Instead, primary school teachers can lead students to use scientific inquiry to understand the basic concepts underlying everyday phenomena and to develop their reasoning and inquiry skills in so doing. This reinforces the view of Magnusson et al. (1999) that teachers’ orientation toward teaching is an integral component of PCK for science teaching.

The second challenge for teachers is to learn to treat the TE as a partner who can facilitate their development of SMK and PCK, rather than simply as a coach who will provide them with survival skills. Unfortunately, the latter seems to be the dominant view adopted in many in-service training workshops that address curriculum reforms. As this new mode of professional development depends on teachers’ in-depth reflections, the development of the metacognitive skills and attitude necessary to become a “reflective practitioner” is the third challenge that needs to be met for teachers to benefit fully from their own action research and from their interactions with peers and the TE.