Fostering Teachers’\nLearning through Materials\nFeaturing Research on Early Cancer Diagnosis as a Context

Development of teacher pedagogical content knowledge\n(PCK) is a\ncrucial aspect of teacher learning that can be supported by high-quality\nmaterials. In this study, 16 chemistry teachers in The Netherlands\nused teaching and learning materials situated in the context of research\non tumor detection. Teachers’ encounters with these learning\nmaterials and the development of teacher PCK were investigated using\nteacher logbooks, card-sorting activities, content representation\n(CoRe) tasks, and semistructured teacher interviews. Analysis of the\nresults showed that most teachers used strategies that were new to\nthem and made few adaptations to the teaching sequence and activities\nproposed in the teacher guide. Moreover, growth in teacher PCK for\nchemical bonding was observed, primarily related to instructional\nstrategies and representations, and to a lesser extent related to\nthree other PCK components (knowledge of curriculum, student understanding,\nand assessment). The data suggest that the materials facilitate teacher\nlearning by enabling positive classroom experiences and by supporting\nteachers to expand their instructional repertoire for the topic of\nchemical bonding, in particular hydrogen bonding.