Exploring grade 5–8 novice science teachers’ PCK development for socioscientific issues-based teaching

Abstract In recent decades, socioscientific issues (SSI) like climate change, genetically modified foods, and COVID-19 pandemic-related issues have commonly been seen in news media debates, and SSI-related research has been one of the main research trends in science education. However, research indicates that schoolteachers find SSI-based teaching hard to implement in the classroom. Therefore, a 13-week professional development programme was designed to enhance teachers’ SSI-based teaching competence. The study aimed to explore grade 5–8 novice science teachers’ development of pedagogical content knowledge (PCK) for SSI-based teaching (SSI-PCK). A multiple case study approach was taken and seven grade 5–8 novice science teachers voluntarily joined the study. The teachers were provided with a tool known as Content Representation (CoRe), which they used as a lesson-planning instrument. The data resources of the study included the participants’ CoRes for teaching SSI topics (initial CoRe and revised versions) and their reflection papers. The results revealed that the professional development programme contributed to the teachers’ development of SSI-PCK. Teachers demonstrated substantial improvements in the components of SSI-PCK, especially knowledge of assessment. It was also found that the teachers’ revised CoRes showed more specific instructional strategies aligned with learning objectives and students’ learning difficulties.