Study On Present Situation Of Pedagogical Content Knowldege In The Field Of Early Childhood Visual Art Education Among Early Childhood Teachers In Shanghai

Pedagogical Content Knowledge, or PCK for short, is the integration of knowledge of content, students, and instructional methods. It is also a prominent factor in evaluating teacher professional performance. As the education sector in China thrives, more attention has been given to the study of pedagogical content knowledge. Art is a means for preschool children to express themselves, communicate with others, and is an indispensable content within the preschool curriculum. As course reform progresses, it has been gaining public awareness. This paper first uses the literature method to present the basic concepts of PCK and the development of its content, and clearly depicts and defines the components and concept within pedagogical content knowledge for early childhood art teachers. Then154teachers within40kindergartens were surveyed through the questionnaire method (based on video material) to obtain a preliminary understanding and therefore to analyze the main characteristics of PCK among early childhood art teachers. Through ANOVA, factor analysis, and regression of school ranking, teachers’educational background, titles, teaching history and age, this paper seeks to identify and understand how such factors influence PCK. The Research indicates the following:1. The level of PKC within Shanghai early childhood art teachers tends to be mediocre, which can be described as a vague and limited understanding of PCK, and needs improvement. Also an imbalance is displayed between knowledge of knowledge of content, students, and instructional methods. The weakest understanding of PCK components is the big ideas of early childhood visual arts, while the strongest lies in the instructional methods. Teachers lack in-depth thinking and integration among the different knowledge components.2. There multiple factors that influence the PCK of early childhood art teachers. Age, educational background and title have no effect on PCK acquired by teachers, while school environment and education experience of art teachers are prominent factors in that respect. The higher the ranking of the school, and the longer the teaching history contributes to higher level of PCK. According to the above findings, this paper suggests several means to combat the practical issues faced with in early childhood visual arts education:1. Reconstruct early childhood art PCK on the basis of identifying the value-orientation of early childhood art education;2. Coordinate the art concept and aesthetic experience in order to construct art PCK;3. Transform art teaching methods in traditional normal education into art PCK;4. Provide substantial opportunities for children to artistically express and represent themselves;5. Strengthen post-service training of early childhood art PCK, and emphasize stratification and diversity. Also, kindergartens should discover its internal training resources.