IP 88-6 Why staying one chapter ahead doesn't really work: Subject-specific pedagogy.
Abstract
What does a methods instructor teach if his or her goal is to enable prospective teachers to help pupils in school develop flexible understanding of subject matter? In this paper, the authors suggest what teachers need to know to foster student understanding. This includes understanding the relationships within and across disciplines, what specialists in a field do, how knowledge in a discipline is generated, tested, and revised; and how knowledge in the discipline relates to the learners' environment. Representations of subject matter--which include the activities, examples, analogies, materials, and so on used in teaching--are the products of weaving together understandings of the specific academic discipline involved with knowledge of learners, learning, and the context. As representations are the currency of subject matter teaching, the authors describe the sources of representations and the knowledge on which teachers should draw in judging their appropriateness. In addition to defining what teachers need to know about subject matter to be prepared to judge representations, the authors suggest what prospective teachers need to know about learners and learning based on research on learning in specific disciplines. They conclude by offering methods instructors some suggestions: Confront students' views of teaching and learning; work with students on their understanding of seminal topics and ideas; get students thinking about the kinds of understandings their pupils are likely to bring with them; evaluate various representations with the students; and model good representations. The authors include an annotated bibliography intended for the use of methods instructors.