Seeking Traces of Filters and Amplifiers as Pre-service Teachers Perform Their Pedagogical Content Knowledge

Abstract

This study examined how filters and amplifiers affect pre-service science teachers’ pedagogical content knowledge (PCK) in a human and environment unit. The redefined consensus model for PCK and decision-making framework for identifying how personal and extra-personal factors act as filters and amplifiers were selected as theoretical frameworks. Two pre-service science teachers participated in the study. While pre-interviews were used to determine participants’ PCK before teaching, observations and post-interviews were used to reveal participants’ PCK after teaching, and how filters and amplifiers influenced PCK. Data were analyzed deductively to examine teachers’ PCK including interactions among components and the way filters and amplifiers act on PCK. Constant comparison analysis revealed five general assertions of how filters and amplifiers shaped the decision-making process when these teachers enacted their PCK. First, the number of amplifiers and filters affecting knowledge of instructional strategies was the highest. Second, the number of amplifiers and filters affecting knowledge of curriculum in science was the lowest. Third, the effect of filters and amplifiers on PCK components was idiosyncratic. Fourth, the more (or the less) the map was integrated; the less (or the more) amplifier and filter influenced the PCK. Fifth, the number of personal factors affecting knowledge of instructional strategies was highest. Implications are suggested considering the effects of filters and amplifiers on teachers’ PCK.