Developing Elementary Content Knowledge in Physical Education Teacher Education
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.