The Study On Kindergarten Teachers’ Mathematical Pedagogical Content Knowledge And Its Influencing Factors

Pedagogical Content Knowledge (PCK) is a knowledge of subject matter for teaching which consists of an understanding of how to represent specific subject matter topics and issues appropriate to the diverse abilities and interest of learners. The purpose of this study was to explore the characteristics of kindergarten teachers’PCK about math subject, the relationship existing among three elements of PCK, the relationship between three elements and total scores of PCK and influencing factors of kindergarten teachers’PCK. In the quantitative research, data and methods of this thesis came from the study of Shanghai kindergarten teachers’PCK conducted by Chen(2010). The research participants were150teachers with an average teaching year of13.5from40kindergartens in Shanghai. Among the participants,34percent of them from Demonstration Kindergartens,38percent of them from first-class kindergartens and28percent of them from second-class kindergartens. Study tools were divided into two parts. The first part included the videos, survey questionnaire based on the videos, and the coding manual was designed by Chen and Huangjin, etc. The second part was the self-designed interview outline. The study used Descriptive Statistics to search into the present state of150kindergarten teachers’PCK in math subject. It compared the survey queationnaire results based on the three videos by means of Independent t Test Sample. It explored the relationship existing among three elements of PCK, the relationship between three elements and total scores of PCK through Correlation Analysis. Apart from these, it also employed the Multiple Regression Analysis to observe the impact of the teachers’professional title, teachers’education background, kindergarten class, and teachers’teaching years on the PCK. This thesis dealt with the interview results in the way of coding, classification, inductive analysis method and explored the elements influencing the PCK of kindergarten teachers in math subject.The results of the study demonstrated that the math PCK of the150Shanghai kindergarten teachers was in the middle level. Their understanding of the elements consisting of PCK was general and limited, although few of them thought deeply about PCK and analyzed PCK."Knowledge of students" and "knowledge of teaching methods" was better than "knowledge of PCK". In the relationship of three elements,"content knowledge" was rarely relevant with "student knowledge; however,"student knowledge" was mostly relevant with "teaching method knowledge". The scores on the three elements of PCK had an significant relationship with total scores.Teachers’professional title, teaching age, education background and the rank of kindergarten which they were in had no conspicuous influence on PCK of kindergarten math teaching. Because PCK was complex, contextual and personalized, it’s better to study it by qualitative analysis. The result indicated that the elements influencing PCK of kindergarten math teaching can be from teachers’observation and reflection in teaching practice, regular teaching and research activities and training, teaching materials and reference materials, accessing to relevant information, communication with colleagues and professional background and education programs.