Affordance of textbooks for natural sciences teachers' enacted pedagogical content knowledge in electric circuits

Abstract

This study investigated PCK revealed in natural sciences textbooks and its impact on teachers' enacted PCK when teaching electric circuits to Grade Nine learners. Four natural sciences teachers from public rural schools in Sekhukhune East District in Limpopo Province were conveniently and purposively sampled to participate in a qualitative case study, guided by an interpretive paradigm. Textbook data was collected from the three textbooks that the teachers used. Observations and interviews were used to gather data on teachers enacted PCK. The refined consensus model (RCM) of PCK was used as a conceptual framework to investigate collective PCK in textbooks and teachers enacted PCK. PCK was conceptualised using the components of knowledge related to: i) curricular saliency; ii) learners' understanding of science; and iii) conceptual teaching strategies including representations. Guided by the RCM and using PCK components, two rubrics were developed with a four-point scale to analyse the quality of textbooks and teachers' enacted PCK, respectively.

The findings indicate that the PCK revealed in natural sciences textbooks influenced teachers' enacted PCK, particularly in terms of the component of curricular saliency and conceptual teaching strategies, including representations. This influence can be attributed to the quality of PCK revealed in textbooks. It can be concluded that the textbook afforded teachers the opportunity to develop their enacted PCK and influenced their teaching of electric circuits. However, not all the teachers utilised the opportunities afforded by the textbooks. It is recommended that professional development programmes train teachers on the affordances and constraints of textbooks.