PRE-SERVICE TEACHERS’ PEDAGOGICAL CONTENT KNOWLEDGE DEVELOPMENT AND ITS EFFECT ON PUPILS’ LEARNING OUTCOMES IN BASIC SCIENCE IN OGUN STATE, NIGERIA

Abstract

Pedagogical Content Knowledge (PCK) is the integration of subject matter expertise with the teaching skills required for effective instructional delivery. Reports have shown that the PCK of most final year Pre-service Teachers (PsTs) is low; a trend partly attributed to inadequate teacher preparation. Previous studies largely focused on the effects of specific teaching strategies and subject-matter knowledge on pupils’ learning outcomes, neglecting the training to develop PsTs’ PCK. Therefore, this study was carried out to equip PsTs with PCK through group Interactive Strategy (GIS) and then determine its effects on pupils’ learning outcomes in basic science in Ogun State. The moderating effects of self-efficacy and school location were also examined. Sociocultural and Social Cognitive Learning theories provided the framework, while the mixed methods of pretest-posttest control group quasi-experimental design and phenomenological approaches were adopted. Purposive sampling strategy was used to select two public colleges of education with Primary Education departments in Ogun State, while intact classes of final year PsTs were enumerated and randomly assigned to GIS (100) and conventional strategy (82).The PsTs in the GIS group were trained on PCK for four weeks. Twelve PsTs who scored 65.0% and above in GIS group and 12 PsTs from the control group were randomly selected and assigned to teach basic science in selected primary schools. Twelve public primary schools with two arms of Primary VI were purposively selected (six each from rural and urban schools) and 24 PsTs were assigned to intact class of 210 pupils in the second phase. Instruments used were PCK (r=0.83) and Basic Science Achievement (r=0.75) tests; Attitude to Basic Science Questionnaire (r=0.75), Self-efficacy Scale (r=0.83) and instructional guides. Four sessions of in-depth interview were held with pre-service teachers. Quantitative data were subjected to descriptive statistics and Analysis of covariance at 0.05 level of significance, while qualitative data were content analysed.

The PsTs and primary school pupils were 19±2.00 and 10.00±2.00 years, respectively, while the intact classes in the urban schools had more pupils (60.0%). Treatment had a significant main effect on pupils’ achievement in basic science (F(1;212)=100.88; partial ŋ2=0.33). Pupils of PsTs with improved PCK had a relatively higher achievement mean score (23.90) than their counterparts (21.16). Treatment had a significant main effect on pupils’ attitude to basic science (F(1;212)=11.03; partial ŋ2=0.94). Participants in the treatment group had a higher mean attitude score(19.23) than their counterparts (17.58). Treatment and school location had a significant disordinal interaction effect on pupils’ achievement (F(1;212)=48.86; partial ŋ2=0.19) and attitude ((F(1;212)=20.51; partial ŋ2=0.09). Urban pupils in the treatment group had higher achievement and attitude scores. There were no significant two-way interaction effects of treatment and self-efficacy, self-efficacy and school location and three-way interaction effects on dependent measures. The training of pre-service teachers through group interactive strategy enhanced pedagogical content knowledge and pupils’ learning outcomes in basic science, more in urban than in rural schools. Teacher education programmes should adopt pedagogical content knowledge development for preparing pre-service teachers.