Making learning visible: Developing preservice teachers' pedagogical content knowledge and teaching efficacy beliefs in environmental education

ABSTRACT

Recognizing that teaching efficacy beliefs influence pedagogical content knowledge, this study assesses the impact of a general methods course on preservice teachers' efficacy beliefs and instructional planning of environmental education content. The course used explicit and visible strategies to support pedagogical and content knowledge development. Repeated measures Analysis of Variances on the Environmental Education Self-Efficacy subscales, Personal Environmental Teaching Efficacy and Environmental Teaching Outcome Expectancy, revealed statistically significant pre-post improvements. Unit analysis noted preservice teachers' varied use of components of Park and Oliver's pedagogical content knowledge framework for science teaching. The impacts communities of practice have on preservice teacher development are discussed.