Anat Yarden, PhD<\/p>\n
Dr. Ronit Rozenszajn, Postdoctoral Fellow<\/p>\n
The Life Sciences group has characterized biology teachers’ pedagogical content knowledge (PCK) and its possible expansion in the course of the Rothschild-Weizmann Program for Excellence in Science Education. Retention of major parts of the expanded PCK a year after termination of the program suggests that the program provides a powerful means for PCK expansion. Group members also found that biology teachers’ content knowledge (CK) is by and large distinct from their PCK. Thus, the relationships between biology teachers’ CK and PCK should be continuously strengthened, as one cannot assume that increasing CK will automatically lead to an improvement in biology teachers’ PCK. Interestingly, a similar analysis carried out with teachers who were participating in the other paths of the Rothschild-Weizmann Program revealed that, similar to the biology teachers, most of the chemistry and physics teachers do not integrate the new subject matter CK acquired during the program into their practice, while the mathematics teachers do connect CK with PCK. In other words, although the mathematics teachers do not teach high mathematics contents in class, their PCK can be meaningfully expanded by studying high-level mathematics contents. The group is currently investigating the complex relations between CK and PCK among biology and mathematics teachers.<\/p>\n