The Analysis of Elementary School Teachers' Pedagogical Content Knowledge on the Unit of "Weight and Pressure in Water"

물속에서의 무게와 압력에 대한 초등 교사의 교수 내용 지식 분석

The purpose of this study was to elucidate elementary school teachers' pedagogical content knowledge regarding the subject of "weight and pressure in water". 6 elementary teachers in charge of the 6th grade were selected for this study. The 7 hour lessons were observed over $15{\sim}20$ days, and a variety of data including scenarios, questionnaires for teachers, interviews of teachers were analyzed. As a result of this study, teachers who had long career histories thought that the purpose of teaching science was to teach the use of science principles, and teachers who had only taught for a relatively short time thought the purpose was satisfying students' curiosity. Most of the teachers felt that the science content knowledge related to buoyancy was insufficient. They had acquired most of the science content knowledge from teaming experiences in middle and high schools. The pre-service teacher education programs didn't help them to satisfactorily acquire the science content knowledge under analysis here. Most of the teachers taught the science lessons according to the order of sequence as shown in the science textbook. They didn't teach the contents that they thought were needed if they were not already included in the science textbook. Only one teacher who had taken science courses in high school managed the science classes freely according to his own thoughts and opinions. From the results of this research, it could be concluded that most elementary school teachers did not have enough pedagogical content knowledge to teach their students effectively.