Table 1 Descriptions of teaching knowledge components, the theoretical frameworks that describe them, and other terms sometimes used1
Knowledge component (theory) | Brief description | Other terms for the same component |
|---|---|---|
Knowledge of student understanding (MKT & PCK2) | Topic-specific knowledge that encompasses awareness of students’ prior knowledge; common difficulties, naive ideas, and misconceptions; variation in student thinking; and how students’ thinking can be expected to change | Knowledge of content and students (Ball et al., 2008); knowledge of students’ understanding of science (e.g., Park & Oliver, 2008), knowledge of learners (Sickel & Friedrichsen 2018), knowledge of student thinking (Ziadie & Andrews 2018), knowledge of students (Chan & Yung, 2015), and knowledge of student ideas (Robertson et al., 2017) |
Knowledge of instructional strategies and representations (MKT & PCK) | Topic-specific knowledge about useful examples, case studies, analogies, visual representations, activities, and other approaches to facilitate student learning | Knowledge of content and teaching (Ball et al., 2008) |
Knowledge of curriculum (MKT & PCK) | Topic-specific knowledge that encompasses awareness of standards for teaching a topic, curricular programs and resources, and appropriate topic sequencing within a course and across courses in the curriculum | Knowledge of content and curriculum (Ball et al., 2008) |
Knowledge of assessment (PCK) | Topic-specific knowledge that encompasses awareness of the dimensions of learning to assess and methods that can be used to assess that learning | – |
Common content knowledge (MKT) | Knowledge of the discipline that is not specific to teaching and that is used by diverse disciplinary experts, including teachers | Subject matter knowledge (e.g., Chan & Yung, 2018), content knowledge (Hale et al., 2016) |
Specialized content knowledge (MKT) | Knowledge of the discipline that is specific to the work of teaching but is not knowledge of students or teaching | – |
Horizon content knowledge (MKT) | knowledge of the discipline regarding how disciplinary ideas appear in different areas of the discipline or grade levels | – |
Pedagogical knowledge | Knowledge about teaching and learning that is not topic-specific, including knowledge of how people learn, instructional approaches, and other knowledge about learners and learning | – |