The Influence of Teachers' Knowledge on Student Learning in Middle School Physical Science Classrooms

• Published in: American educational research journal Vol. 50; no. 5; pp. 1020 - 1049
• Main Authors: Sadler, Philip M., Sonnert, Gerhard, Coyle, Harold P., Cook-Smith, Nancy, Miller, Jaimie L.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Los Angeles, CA SAGE Publications 01.10.2013; American Educational Research Association
• Subjects: Academic Achievement; Academic Standards; Educational research; Hierarchical Linear Modeling; Inferences; Knowledge; Learning; Mathematical knowledge; Mathematics education; Measures (Individuals); Middle School Students; Middle School Teachers; Middle schools; Misconception; Misconceptions; Pedagogical Content Knowledge; Physical Sciences; Pretests; Pretests Posttests; Regression (Statistics); Science education; Science Instruction; Science Teachers; Students; Teachers; Teaching methods; Teaching, Learning, and Human Development; subject matter knowledge; teacher; misconceptions; pedagogical content knowledge; science education
• ISSN: 0002-8312; 1935-1011
• DOI: 10.3102/0002831213477680

This study examines the relationship between teacher knowledge and student learning for 9,556 students of 181 middle school physical science teachers. Assessment instruments based on the National Science Education Standards with 20 items in common were administered several times during the school year to both students and their teachers. For items that had a very popular wrong answer, the teachers who could identify this misconception had larger classroom gains, much larger than if the teachers knew only the correct answer. On items on which students did not exhibit misconceptions, teacher subject matter knowledge alone accounted for higher student gains. This finding suggests that a teacher's ability to identify students' most common wrong answer on multiple-choice items, a form of pedagogical content knowledge, is an additional measure of science teacher competence.