The Role of Transformative Professional Development Based on Educative Materials in Affecting Teacher PCK, Classroom Practice, and Student Achievement

  • The measure of pedagogical content knowledge (PCK) is composed of two distinct factors—content knowledge and a composite of contextual knowledge and general pedagogical knowledge.
  • Teacher content knowledge scores increased significantly for the total test across all time points, from baseline to post-professional development to post-teaching.
  • The relationship of teacher content knowledge and contextual/pedagogical knowledge with student achievement is inconsistent.
  • For some biology topics, the relationship is positive and statistically significant; for others it is negative and statistically significant.
  • This research study, funded by National Science Foundation (NSF), is a collaborative project with BSCS and the Center for Science Teaching and Learning at Northern Arizona University (NAU) and was prepared for the 2010 American Education Research Association (AERA) Conference, Denver, CO.

This report is based on the work of Project PRIME (Promoting Reform through Instructional Materials that Educate). The goal of this project was to study PCK growth in teachers who implement highly educative curriculum materials with and without professional development.

Click here to view presentation from the AERA Conference.

Click here to read full report.

Carlson, J., Gess-Newsome, J., Gardner, A., Wilson, C. D., & Stuhlsatz, M. A. M. (2010). The Role of Transformative Professional Development Based on Educative Materials in Affecting Teacher PCK, Classroom Practice, and Student Achievement. Paper presented at the American Education Research Association (AERA) Annual Conference.