Investigating the relationships between pre-service science teachers’ topic-specific personal and enacted pedagogical content knowledge

This study aimed to investigate pre-service science teachers’ (PSTs') PCK levels regarding celestial bodies and the relationships between PCK components. The pre-service teachers’ PCK was analyzed in two ways: personal PCK (pPCK) and enacted PCK (ePCK). PSTs' topic-specific pPCK represented their declarative knowledge of PCK regarding celestial bodies, and their topic-specific ePCK represented their enacted competencies in teaching this science topic in the classroom. Pre-service teachers’ pPCK and ePCK were examined through four components: science curriculum, students’ understanding, instructional strategy and method, and assessment. 22 PSTs participated in the study, and data on pre-service teachers’ PCK was collected through interviews, field observation notes, and teaching video records. The study used two rubrics to analyze the data obtained regarding the PSTs' pPCK and ePCK. Accordingly, PSTs' levels of pPCK/components and ePCK/components revealed idiosyncratic and topic-specific differences. Furthermore, their pPCK and ePCK interact and the internal and mutual relationships between pPCK components and ePCK components are topic-specific. This study provides comprehensive and valuable information for teacher education programs by revealing the dynamic interaction between pre-service teachers’ knowledge and actions. It also highlights the need for more teaching experiences from the early years of these programs to improve their classroom practice.