Pedagogical content knowledge of mathematics educators and students achievement in Nairobi County
Date
2019-08
Authors
Kamau, Mary
O'Connor, Marguerite Miheso
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Strathmore University
Abstract
Pedagogical content knowledge (PCK) and content knowledge (CK) are key
components of teacher competence that affect student progress. However, little is
known about how tea£her education affects the development of CK and PCK. The
imperative in recent years about improving student outcomes is also about improving
the quality of the teaching workforce. Schulman (1986) believed that teachers needed
more than just knowledge of their content area and generalized knowledge of pedagogy
to be a good teacher. He believed that they also needed the ways of presenting and
formulating the subject and make it comprehensible to them (Shulman, 1986) as well
as what makes the concept easy or difficult for others and possible misconceptions that
the students may have. The aim of the study is to examine prospective mathematics
teachers pedagogical content knowledge in terms of knowledge of understanding
students and knowledge of instructional strategies which are the subcomponents of
pedagogical content knowledge. The research will seek to explore (a) To determine the
teachers competency of pedagogical content knowledge in Mathematics. (b)To
determine how teachers use mathematical content knowledge in dealing with some
teaching problems and achievement of students in mathematics. (c) To investigate the
interrelationship between mathematical knowledge and pedagogical content
knowledge. (d)To investigate the minimal knowledge requirement of mathematics
teachers. To address this question, the researcher will construct tests to directly assess
mathematics teachers CK and PCK. Based on these tests, the researcher will compared
the PCK and CK of four groups of mathematics teachers at different points in their
teaching careers in Nairobi County. The target population will be one thousand four
hundred which will comprise of teachers and students in Nairobi County. The
respondents will be selected with the purposive sampling .Case study method, which is
based on the qualitative research approach will also be used. Data will be collected using
questionnaires, interview schedules and lesson observation schedules. The obtained
data will be analysed using SPSS computer software and the findings will be
represented I tables and charts. The recommendation of the study will be to
Mathematics educators.
Description
Paper presented at the 5th Strathmore International Mathematics Conference (SIMC 2019), 12 - 16 August 2019, Strathmore University, Nairobi, Kenya
Keywords
PCK- pedagogical content knowledge, Ck -content knowledge