International Journal of Human Movement and Sports Sciences Vol. 4(2), pp. 13 - 19
DOI: 10.13189/saj.2016.040201
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Developing Elementary Content Knowledge in Physical Education Teacher Education

Insook Kim ^1,*, Bomna Ko ^2
1 College of Education, Health, and Human Services, Kent State University, USA
² College of Health and Human Performance, East Carolina University, USA

ABSTRACT

The purpose of this study was to investigate how curricular, content courses, and lessons are structured in ways to develop pre-service teachers' in-depth elementary content knowledge in physical education teacher education. Six elementary content course instructors' learning context data were collected from five physical education teacher education programs in the United States. Both qualitative and quantitative methods were adopted to analyze the collected data. The results of this study indicated: (a) the physical education teacher education programs offered fewer learning opportunities to learn K-12 content; (b) the elementary content courses were structured with different levels of content foci; (c) a primary tool for measuring in-depth elementary content knowledge was written exams or quizzes; and (d) three dominant instructional approaches--lectures, peer teaching, and modeling-- intended to develop specialized content knowledge were incorporated in the lessons. The research findings may guide teacher educators to reform their teacher preparation programs in ways to facilitate pre-service teachers' elementary content knowledge acquisition necessary for successful teaching.

KEYWORDS
Teacher Preparation, Specialized Content Knowledge, Elementary Content Knowledge, Instructional Approaches

Cite This Paper in IEEE or APA Citation Styles
(a). IEEE Format:
[1] Insook Kim , Bomna Ko , "Developing Elementary Content Knowledge in Physical Education Teacher Education," International Journal of Human Movement and Sports Sciences, Vol. 4, No. 2, pp. 13 - 19, 2016. DOI: 10.13189/saj.2016.040201.

(b). APA Format:
Insook Kim , Bomna Ko (2016). Developing Elementary Content Knowledge in Physical Education Teacher Education. International Journal of Human Movement and Sports Sciences, 4(2), 13 - 19. DOI: 10.13189/saj.2016.040201.