Contemporary views on physics education in high schools promote the need for students to develop their conceptual understanding about physics phenomena. However, teaching in this way requires specialized professional knowledge and for pre-service physics teachers, such knowledge needs to be scaffolded and developed. A strategy to support this…

Research on teacher educators' professional learning has gained increasing interest within science education. Curriculum materials have been suggested as a means of supporting "teacher" learning for several decades but have not yet been examined as a potential tool for supporting the learning of "teacher educators." In this…

Researchers have typically identified and characterized teachers' knowledge bases (e.g., pedagogical content knowledge and subject matter knowledge) in an effort to improve enacted instructional strategies. As shown by the Refined Consensus Model (RCM), understanding teacher learning, beliefs, and practices is predicated on the interconnections of…

Despite the importance of evolution to understand biology, there is significant evidence that many biology teachers have difficulties to successfully teach this topic. The purpose of this study is to describe procedures by which a paper-and-pencil instrument to assess teachers' pedagogical content knowledge for evolution (PCK[subscript evo]) was…

There is, broadly speaking, an agreement within the international science education community that comprehension of the nature of science (NOS) should be a key element in the scientific literacy of citizens. During the last few decades, several didactic approaches have emerged concerning what and how to teach NOS. Also, one of the basic objectives…

Since 2014, SEERIH (Science and Engineering Education Research and Innovation Hub) has developed a professional learning programme for primary science subject leaders in Greater Manchester. This responds to the ongoing need for teachers to develop skills and confidence in the teaching, learning and assessment of primary science (Wellcome Trust,…

This chapter describes how faculty from the "teach"HOUSTON program and physics department collaborated to increase the number of highly qualified physics teachers. Prior to this collaboration, the University had not produced even one physics teacher graduate in the previous decade. A physics teacher education pathway has been established…

Science appears to be coming under increasing pressure in parts of society and the media, with an increase in 'fake news' and less regard for 'experts'. If this is to be combatted, it is important that students develop a good understanding of both the big conceptual ideas of science and the nature of science itself. This understanding will mean…

Recent research and reform efforts in science education have consistently stressed the importance of coherent science instruction, in which learning opportunities are connected and contextualized by meaningful phenomena, focus on a small set of core ideas over time, and generate a need-to-know about new ideas through a set of connected lessons.…

Changes to the National Curriculum in England in 2014 placed a stronger emphasis on children working scientifically while developing a range of science enquiry skills. As science subject leaders, the authors noticed that colleagues in their schools were only confident when teaching enquiry as a fair test, which the authors now know is not always…

As the World Health Organization declared COVID-19 a global pandemic in March 2020, universities around the world reacted quickly by shifting classes online. To varying extents, this rapid change required chemistry teacher educators to rethink and redesign their units and delivery. Some teacher educators may have perceived this shift as a timely…

To meet the requirements of students' cooperative learning, our quasi-experimental study addresses how preservice teachers (PSTs), as a component of their procedural pedagogical content knowledge (PCK), might develop more adequate tutor-student interactions during students' experimentation. Applying the assignment-assistance tutoring model, we…

In recent years the realisation that children make decisions and choices about subjects they like in primary school became widely accepted. The role of the primary school teacher as the main ambassador for a subject is therefore crucial in inspiring and enthusing the younger generation towards STEM. However, in most European countries, primary…

This Special Issue aims to present evidence about the relationships between content knowledge (CK), pedagogical knowledge (PK) and pedagogical content knowledge (PCK); the development of these types of knowledge in novice and experienced secondary science teachers; and how CK, PK and/or PCK impact students' learning. Since Shulman's introduction…

Science teacher educators (STEs) have key roles in the educational system through their preparation of pre- and in-service science teachers and in implementing future-oriented policy reforms. Given the complexity and importance of their role, what types of knowledge do STEs need? STEs come from a range of backgrounds and there are few systematic…