What We Know About Deepening Teachers' Content Knowledge: Engaging Teachers with Challenging Mathematics and Science to Deepen their Content Knowledge

Professional learning opportunities for teachers of mathematics and science have increasingly focused on teachers' content knowledge. Learning opportunities aimed at deepening teachers' content knowledge often include a primary strategy of engaging teachers with challenging mathematics or science content—for example, working problems, conducting investigations, presenting results, and discussing concepts. Advice from experienced practitioners offers guidance for efforts to engage teachers with challenging mathematics and science content as a strategy for deepening their content knowledge. Insights provided by a group of expert practitioners with diverse backgrounds and experiences in working with teachers included the following ideas:

• Teachers generally respond positively to opportunities to delve into mathematics/science content.
• Professional development providers should plan for the likelihood that teachers with different course backgrounds in mathematics/science will have very different content-related needs.
• Teachers with substantial gaps in their mathematics/science content knowledge need the same kind and depth of content coverage as is provided in content-focused graduate courses.
• Teachers need to be supported as adult learners of the content through engaging activities that build on their prior knowledge, and through instructional experiences that are both challenging and appropriately scaffolded.
• Teachers need to see the connection between how they are encountering the content and how the topic appears in the grade-level content.

Teacher Content Knowledge Matters

Empirical evidence demonstrates that teachers' mathematics/science content knowledge makes a difference in their instructional practice and their students' achievement. Consistent findings across studies include:

• Teachers' mathematics/science content knowledge influences how teachers engage students with the subject matter.
• Teachers' mathematics/science content knowledge influences how teachers evaluate and use instructional materials.
• Teachers' mathematics/science content knowledge is related to what their students learn.

Research on Engaging Teachers with Challenging Mathematics and Science Content

Six research studies of professional development programs that engaged teachers with challenging mathematics content, as one of several strategies, were identified in a search of the published literature. All six provided evidence of positive effects on teachers' mathematics content knowledge (Basista & Mathews, 2002; Clark & Schorr, 2000; Garner-Gilchrist, 1993; Geer, 2001; Sowder, Philipp, Armstrong, & Schappelle, 1998; Swafford, Jones, & Thornton, 1997; Swafford, Jones, Thornton, & Stump, 1999). These studies were concentrated in the middle grades, with teacher participants ranging from grade 4 to grade 10. Across the studies, topics in number and operations, algebra, geometry, measurement, and data/probability/statistics were addressed. Although no studies investigated the unique contribution of engaging teachers with challenging mathematics content, consistent positive results across the programs support claims regarding its effectiveness in deepening teachers' mathematics content knowledge.

The literature search surfaced seven research studies of professional development programs that engaged teachers with challenging science content. Each intervention included several strategies, and none was designed to measure the unique influence of engaging teachers with challenging science content. Still, each one reported evidence that teachers' science content knowledge increased (Alonzo, 2002; Basista & Mathews, 2002; Freeman, 1994; Puttick & Rosebery, 1998; Radford, 1998; Summers & Kruger, 1994; Summers, Kruger, Mant, & Childs, 1998). While teacher participants in the studies ranged from Kindergarten to grade 10, all but two of the studies focused on elementary grades teachers. Further, although earth, life, and physical science were represented, physical science was by far the most frequently studied content area.