a CUSP school with a proposal for enhancing teachers’science PCK through a
small research project. The Principal was very positive about such a project and
invited the lecturer to meet with her and the school’s Science Curriculum Leader.
54.5 The CUSP School’s Response
In her introduction to a potential research project, the teacher educator acknowl-
edged the experience and expertise of the school’s mentor teachers around edu-
cation for the twentyfirst century and pedagogy for student-centred inquiry learning
as strengths in the schools’educational programmes. Within the context of CUSP,
she then raised the school-based learning experiences for pre-service teachers in
science as an issue and identified them as an area for enhancement. She revealed
how few pre-service teachers reported seeing classroom teachers modelling science
teaching on their teaching practice, while other pre-service teachers found working
with their associate teachers problematic in science compared to other subject areas.
It appeared many associate teachers were less certain about their role in providing
and supporting pre-service teachers’learning opportunities in science education,
especially when it came to assisting with classroom planning and teaching episodes
around science inquiry learning. The teacher educator shared key researchfindings
from national and international sources with the Principal and the Science
Curriculum Leader that might shed light on the pre-service teachers’practicum
experiences in science.
In response the Principal and science curriculum leader openly recognised and
accepted the need to strengthen science education in their school. They appreciated
such moves would in turn increase their teachers’capabilities as associate teachers.
In particular, the school leaders wanted to support their teachers’science pedagogy,
and more closely align the school science education programme with the intent of
the recently revised New Zealand Curriculum (NZC) (MoE 2007 ) and with twenty
first-century learning principles that were a focus in the school’s futures-focused
curriculum plan. After further discussions, the school leaders came to the view that
improvements in science education were best addressed through enrichment of all
associate teachers’PCK at the school and redevelopment of the school science plan.
At this point in the discussion, the teacher educator thought it opportune to intro-
duce the notion of a collaborative research project featuring an intervention known
as Content Representation (CoRe) design as a means for enhancing teachers’sci-
ence PCK and initiating curriculum redevelopment.
The teacher educator explained that a CoRe, as originally developed by
Loughran et al. ( 2006 ), is a strategy for making key features of the pedagogical
content knowledge (PCK) of an individual teacher, or group of teachers, obvious to
others (see Table54.1). This exposure of the knowledge underpinning the teaching
of certain science content to specific groups of students is achieved via the use of a
framework or template, which teachers are asked tofill in. It contains what the
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