written by Geraldine L. Cochran, Leanne Wells, and David T. Brookes

The Learning Assistant (LA) program at Florida International University has become an important part of physics teacher preparation at the institution. All pre-service physics teachers are required to participate in the program. An underlying goal of the program is to help participants develop pedagogical content knowledge necessary for effective teaching. In this study, physics LAs views on expert teaching are analyzed through the lens of pedagogical content knowledge by means of semi-structured interviews. Analysis of these interviews reveals that LAs are aware of the need for both pedagogical knowledge and content knowledge in expert teaching. LAs hint at the need for pedagogical content knowledge in expert teaching. Analysis of participants' responses also revealed that physics LAs' have varying perspectives on the importance of content knowledge and pedagogical knowledge in expert teaching that impact their views on their teacher preparation experience.

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Published February 1, 2014
Last Modified January 30, 2014

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