Shanghai Normal University Dissertation For Ph.D

PCK (Pedagogical Content Knowledge) is a kind of special integration ofindividual teacher’s personal teaching experience, knowledge of subject matter andpedagogy, a kind of representative form of teacher’s knowledge. Since Schulman putforward this concept, the study of PCK has aroused great interest among scholars.But these studies mainly focus on the make-up of PCK, the sources of teacher’s PCK.The study on the refining and improving of teacher’s PCK is still in lack. When itcomes to the particular subject matter, studies related to mathematics and English asa second language have gone a bit far while Chinese, as mother tongue, the teacher’sPCK has not attained systematic study, which will pioneer its research in China.The study is based on the following assumptions:1. PCK stands in the center ofteacher’s professional knowledge as a kind of mixture of knowledge of subject matterand pedagogical knowledge;2. PCK is a kind of “use theory” internalized gradually inthe practice, which can be refined and described through teacher’s teachingcharacteristics;3.PCK covers common PCK, subject PCK and topic OCK with topic PCKbeing its key;4. PCK refined from excellent Chinese lessons will play important rolesin improving Chinese teacher’s professional knowledge;5. teacher’s PCK can beimproved through lesson study, especially through “co-lesson preparation” withexperts in.The dissertation is composed of three parts:Part1is the two-chapter introduction. The first chapter introduces thebackground, including the common views in the PCK study, and the status quo of thetopic PCK, in order to bring about the topic of the study. The present topic PCK studyis “analytic” and the “alloy” study is still absent. The second chapter introduces thecore concepts, research content and research methods in the study, and also theresearch design and the dissertation structure, stating the significance of thedissertation.Part2is the main body of the study, trying to study the refining of Chineselesson’s topic PCK, which is divided into four chapters. The third chapter is choosing of lessons and descriptions, answering twoquestions:1. what lessons should be chosen in the study?2. How to describe lessonsfrom the perspective of PCK? The dissertation believes that excellent Chineseteachers’ lessons are characterized with clear and high quality features, and shouldbe the priority. The present lessons appear in three styles, and the chapter putsforward the procedures, key points and principles when describing from PCK’sperspective based on the comparison of these three styles.The fourth chapter is identification and extraction of key PCK, answering threequestions:1. what is the key PCK in the lessons?2. How to identify and extract thekey PCK?3. How to test and verify the extracted PCK? In a particular lesson, threelevels of PCK co-exist but the topic PCK should be the key in the study. The key PCK inthis dissertation means that playing vital part in teaching. Researches show that the“key PCK” in Chinese subject lies in “style”. The chapter discusses the identificationand extraction methods of key PCK, and puts forward three principles to test andverify the extracted PCK.The fifth chapter is the refining and formulation of PCK. The refining andformulation of Chinese PCK have special difficulties which come from the PCK’simplicit features, and are restricted by the qualitative study, and also the problemsbrought about by the researchers’ subjectivity. The chapter displays the process ofChinese PCK’s refining through some study cases. First, different researcher carriedon some tentative studies on the key PCK in the lesson; Secondly, the researchersarrive at a common view after complete discussion; Thirdly, The extracted PCK isaccurately formulated via amendment and revise. The refining and formulation ofChinese PCK is still under research and is to be further studied.The sixth chapter is about the application of extracted PCK. The chapterintroduces two projects the writer took part in. One is “Long-distance Training Courseof Primary School’s Chinese PCK” organized by Chinese Teachers Research&StudiesWeb, and the writer’s topic “PCK in Children’s Literary Work’s Teaching”is mainlyintroduced; The others are some action research cases the writer coordinated withsome Chinese teachers, presenting the complete revising process and expounding the functions the extracted PCK exert upon teaching design.Part3discusses the improving of Chinese teacher’s POK, including two chapters.The seventh chapter is about seeking improvement of PCK in lesson study. Theimproving of PCK is based on the teacher’s personal sense and must help and makethe teachers reflect upon their own PCK and improvement should be made throughaction research.“Co-lesson preparation with experts in” is proved to be an effectiveway to improve Chinese teacher’s PCK, which has two methods: theme research andworkshop, which are specifically explained in this chapter.The eighth chapter is about some cases of improving PCK and the discussions.The typical cases of theme research and workshop are respectively introduced, whilesome phenomena are discussed in improving PCK, which is a detour process in whichthe smooth and effective sense in teaching may be temporarily lost.