Abstract
This work analyses strategic knowledge, within the domain of science content knowledge in teaching. It concerns the ways non-specialist teachers talk about science education and report their activities in this realm. However, it also attempts to look at general issues such as the distance between theory and practice in teaching (as well as in educational research); and differences and similarities between the discourse of practising teachers and that of science educators. In addition, it discusses the problems concerning the elicitation and development of professional knowledge in teaching. The specific strategic knowledge studied in the thesis is that of primary teachers in England and Wales post-National Curriculum. The empirical study consists in a Thematic Investigation, in the manner proposed by Paulo Freire, of teachers’ discourse. Research in Science Education and in Teacher Thinking has approached thinking from a cognitive and therefore individual point of view. In this thesis, however, thinking is considered socially bound, historically situated and also subject to the emotional states of individuals. Moreover, thinking is considered inseparable from action. Reflection thus becomes a collaborative enterprise. The individual teacher thinks about idiosyncratic propositions and exemplary cases, while the collaborative researcher acts as an ‘other’; someone who is knowledgeable of formalized propositions and established patterns of action, who challenges individuals, problematizing their ideas and interpretation of actions. The goal of reaching understanding in this dialogue leads its interlocutors to think explicitly about taken-for-granted elements of discourse. This offers the researcher the possibility of a further level of analysis about the discourse (not just of structures within the discourse). The outcome is eight Generative Themes concerning propositions and strategies for teaching science in primary school. These themes serve as an example of how teachers’ strategic knowledge may be seen in relation to formalized pedagogical content knowledge structures and the mechanisms of professional development of teachers.