Teachers' general pedagogical content knowledge (PCK) and content knowledge of algebra

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to identify general PCK and content knowledge of lower secondary school teachers in Algebra based on years of service and teacher training background. About 34 lower secondary school teachers from a district in Melaka participated in the survey. And 2 teachers reported 1 year of teaching experience, 7 teachers reported 5-9 years and 25 teachers reported>10 years of teaching experience. In terms of teacher training background, 23 had acquireda certificate in Mathematics and 11 had various training backgrounds such as in Bahasa Melayu (Malay language teaching), Chinese language, Accounting, Economics and Engineering. A general PCK smvey, using a 5-point Likert scale and a 21 itemquestionnaire on Algebra were adapted and utilized to gather data. Next, the level of teachers' general PCK was assessedusing the mean score interpretation which classifies the mean score into three level: low (mean 1-2.33), moderate (mean2.34-3.66) and high (mean 3.67-5.0). The results revealed that 97.1% of respondents had moderate (50%; Mathematics andeducational Mathematics dimensions) and high levels (47.1%; strategy of teaching Mathematics dimension) of general PCK, even though they acquired different course specifications in their training and had various years of teaching experience. Therefore, the teachers in the present sample possessed good general PCK. However, the results also showed that teachers'content knowledge in Algebra was less than satisfactory. Specifically, scores on the Algebra questionnaire included the following 4 teachers received 2-4,17 received 5-9, 11 received 10-14 and only 2 out of the 34 teachers obtained a score of 15 over 30. Additionally, 10 out of 13 teachers who earned a score of 10 or higher were those who took Mathematics education. These findings suggest that teachers collaborate to enhance knowledge and become more effective. © Medwell Joumals, 2012.