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Knowing the subject matter of a secondary‐school science subject

2007; Taylor & Francis; Volume: 39; Issue: 5 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1080/00220270701305362

1366-5839

Zongyi Deng,

Education and Critical Thinking Development

Abstract This paper examines the fundamental yet largely neglected distinction between school subjects and academic disciplines in the discourse on teachers' specialized subject‐matter knowledge. It analyses and critiques the curricular positions embedded in that discourse in the light of five possible relationships between school subjects and academic disciplines. Invoking Dewey's logical‐psychological distinction and research findings, the paper argues that the subject matter of a secondary‐school science subject instead of the subject matter of its parent academic discipline lies at the heart of secondary‐school science teachers' specialized subject‐matter knowledge. Knowing such subject matter entails knowing five intersecting dimensions: the logical, the psychological, the pedagogical, the epistemological, and the sociocultural. Implications are drawn concerning theorizing about what secondary‐school science teachers need to know about the subject matter they are expected to teach, subject‐matter preparation for teaching, and the development of secondary‐school science curriculum materials. Keywords: curriculumJohn Deweypedagogical content knowledgescience educationsubject‐matter knowledge Acknowledgements I am grateful to Margery D. Osborne and Ian Westbury for their helpful comments on an earlier draft of this paper. I also thank Geoffrey Milburn for editing the manuscript. Notes 1. This conceptualization was developed in the context of, and informed by, their research project 'Knowledge growth in teaching', with a central focus on how a novice secondary‐school teacher transforms his or her previously learned content knowledge of the academic discipline into a form suitable for classroom teaching (Shulman 1986 Shulman, L. S. 1986. Those who understand: knowledge growth in teaching. 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