Tracing the Knowledge Growth of Beginning Social Science Teachers: A Study of Conceptual Change and Knowledge in Action

This paper reports on a longitudinal study of beginning Social Science teachers as they moved from their 4th (and final) year of studies to their first year of teaching. The focus of the study was to examine participants' knowledge in action and conceptions of effective Social Science teaching over a period of time. A paucity of information exists as to how teachers acquire knowledge, especially pedagogical content knowledge for teaching. While there is a great deal of interest in reflective teaching and teachers' knowledge base, there is little evidence to show how teachers' knowledge changes and develops over time. There is dispute about the capacity of teacher education programs to address the development of pedagogical content knowledge in beginning teachers. Whilst there are descriptions of the differences between the beginner and expert teacher, there are no accounts about the nature of change. Video stimulated recall and concept mapping is used to investigate the growth of teachers' knowledge especially the application of pedagogical content knowledge to practice by beginning Social Science teachers.