Can Content Representation (CoRe) accurately capture key components of science teachers’ PCK?: A methodological perspective

This study critically evaluated the capability of the Content Representation (CoRe) tool to capture the key components of teachers’ pedagogical content knowledge (PCK) in the context of a science teacher education program. Although the CoRe is widely used to investigate science teachers’ PCK, it was not explicitly designed to capture the five key components of PCK: Orientations to teaching science (OTS), knowledge of instructional strategies and representations (KISR), knowledge of students’ understanding (KSU), knowledge of science curriculum (KSC), and knowledge of assessment (KAs). This study, with its methodological focus, analyzed the responses of 45 in-service biology teachers who were participating in a professional development program, examining the extent to which the CoRe data represented the five key PCK components. The findings revealed that the CoRe adequately captured OTS, KISR and KSU, however, its capability to capture KSC and KAs was limited. Additionally, further knowledge bases, including content knowledge, pedagogical knowledge and general assessment knowledge, frequently emerged in the teachers’ responses. These results suggest that the CoRe may cover knowledge bases that go beyond PCK while failing to comprehensively capture all key PCK components. Recommendations are provided for how to interpret CoRe data with regard to the five key PCK components in future studies and how to improve the capability of the CoRe to capture science teachers’ PCK more comprehensively.