Creating Profiles of Geometry Teachers’ Pedagogical Content Knowledge

In this paper the researchers propose a content-specific, short, interactive, online instrument as a way to measure and describe secondary mathematics teachers’ pedagogical content knowledge (PCK) related to the area of a trapezoid. The specific components of the PCK are defined with respect to the mathematical content and the process of deriving measures of this construct is described. In this study, 39 inservice teachers were prompted to analyze and report on students’ thinking based on interactive samples of students’ work provided. Teachers were also asked to propose ways to address students’ difficulties and provide suggestions to extend student learning. Their responses were used to develop and modify rubrics for measuring each of the components of PCK and create visual representations of teacher profiles reflecting different levels of teachers’ development of PCK. This paper is a result of a mixed methods study where the topic of teaching and learning of geometry at the secondary level is addressed.