Abstract

Science laboratories in university biology courses are usually designed by simply specifying student tasks and experiments. Unfortunately novice teachers often have weak preparation in the effective design of laboratory-based activities. Pedagogical content knowledge (PCK) is the combination of the knowledge of specific science content and pedagogy used by experienced teachers when they organize and present particular problems or topics in the laboratory. We aimed to identify the PCK involved in laboratory teaching in order to be able to eventually specify objectives for a laboratory teaching curriculum. In this qualitative case study, we used participant-observation methods during two semesters of a successful biology laboratory program in the mid-western United States. The findings from this study are described in terms of eight PCK categories: cooperative teamwork; constructive feedback; peer partnering; doing science as process; communication; team teaching; reminders and repetition; and familiarity with equipment.