What We Know About Deepening Teachers' Content Knowledge: Use of Student Instructional Materials

Professional learning opportunities for teachers of mathematics and science have increasingly focused on teachers' content knowledge, in some cases involving teachers working with the instructional materials they will be using with their students. This strategy may include teachers performing the activities themselves as learners, or analyzing the materials to discuss the intended learning goals and progression of ideas for students' conceptual development. Advice from experienced practitioners offers guidance for efforts to use student instructional materials in deepening teachers' mathematics or science disciplinary and pedagogical content knowledge. Insights provided by a group of expert practitioners with diverse backgrounds included the following ideas:

• Experiencing the student instructional materials as learners can deepen teachers' understanding of mathematics/science content.
• It is important to keep the mathematics/science content and/or learning goals in the forefront in order to avoid a common tendency to focus solely on issues of logistics and management.
• An analysis of the mathematics/science ideas in student instructional materials and how they relate to one another or are developed over time is helpful in deepening teachers' pedagogical content knowledge.
• The quality of instructional materials being examined has implications for how teachers should engage with them in professional development.

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 Student Instructional Materials

Studies of five professional development programs that engaged teachers with student instructional materials in mathematics, as one of several strategies, were identified in a search of the published literature. Findings of the studies for all five interventions, including two studies of one intervention, provided evidence of positive effects on teachers' mathematics content knowledge (Basista & Mathews, 2002; Clark & Schorr, 2000; Empson, 1999; Sowder et al., 1998; Swafford, Jones, & Thornton, 1997; Swafford, Jones, Thornton, & Stump, 1999). These studies were concentrated in the elementary and middle grades, with teacher participants ranging from grade 3 to grade 10. All but one study focused on number and operations; the areas of algebra, geometry, and data/probability/statistics were addressed by two studies each. Although no studies investigated the unique contribution of the use of student instructional materials, consistent positive results across the programs support claims regarding its effectiveness in deepening teachers' mathematics content knowledge.

The literature search surfaced five research studies of professional development programs that engaged teachers with student instructional materials in science. Each intervention included several strategies, and none was designed to measure the unique influence of using student instructional materials. Still, each one reported evidence that teachers' science content knowledge increased (Alonzo, 2002; Basista & Mathews, 2002; Jones, 1997; Robardey, et al., 1994; and Van Driel, Verloop, and deVos, 1998). Although teacher participants in the studies ranged from grades 3 through 12, all but one of the studies focused on elementary and middle grades teachers. Further, although some of the studies focused on various sciences, physical science was the most frequently studied content area.