Developing chemistry preservice teachers’ pedagogical content knowledge (PCK) through the learning by collaborative design (LBCD) curriculum model

Pedagogical Content Knowledge (PCK) is crucial for effective teaching, but it is a complex and implicit knowledge, especially in chemistry education. Therefore, this study explores the use of the LBCD (Learning by Collaborative Design) model to support PCK development among pre-service chemistry teachers. This study adopted a one-group pretest-posttest experimental design, conducting the intervention with 210 participants. After data collection, the study first conducted exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses on the pre-and post-test data, confirming the good reliability and validity of the designed chemistry PCK questionnaire. Additionally, paired sample t-tests were used to measure pre-service teachers’ PCK development in dimensions of CTO, KOA, KOC, KOL, and KOS. Furthermore, unstructured interviews helped to further clarify the participants’ views of the effectiveness of the LBCD curriculum. The results showed that the developed chemistry PCK questionnaire and the LBCD model had a significant statistical impact on the PCK elements development among pre-service teachers, although the development of these elements was not balanced. Finally, the study provides suggestions for the measurement of PCK elements, as well as chemistry teacher education, such as applying the LBCD model to different teacher groups and testing PCK element models using the methods of this study. Copyright © 2024 JBSE.