Relating teachers’ pedagogical content knowledge to their formative assessment practices to promote learning in the topic of chemical equilibrium

Abstract

It is commonly understood that teachers who are successful in their practice possess a knowledge base called pedagogical content knowledge (PCK). PCK refers to the ability to transform content into teachable forms and is associated with teacher effectiveness. This study follows a qualitative research approach, acknowledging that context-rich data are essential to explore the interplay between PCK and formative assessment practices. The ability to assess whether learning is or has taken place is just as important in teaching. Research indicates that formative assessment significantly influences teaching methods and consequently, student learning outcomes. The purpose of this study is to examine how teachers’ PCK relates to their formative assessment practices in the topic of chemical equilibrium. Two physical sciences teachers were invited to participate in the current study. Data reflecting the selected teachers’ PCK was collected using a customised Content Representation (CoRe) tool aligned with the three Grand rubric components of PCK. The CoRe responses and follow-up interviews reflected teachers’ static PCK in terms of curricular saliency, learners’ conceptual understanding and conceptual teaching strategies including representations. Classroom observations revealed the dynamic nature of teachers' enacted PCK, as well as their informal formative assessment practices, particularly through oral questioning, structured by the Elicit, Student response, Recognise, Use (ESRU) model. The Grand rubric provided the conceptual framework for analysing PCK, replacing previous topic-specific models. By examining how PCK components guide in-the-moment eliciting, recognising, and using student thinking, this study heightened the understanding of how PCK drives effective formative assessment in a challenging chemistry topic. The results demonstrated that strong PCK enables teachers to use formative assessment strategically to build on prior knowledge, address misconceptions and support conceptual understanding. The study suggests that teacher institutions should prioritise developing PCK for formative assessment enabling teachers to respond in real time to student thinking and continuously support learning.