Personal and Canonical PCK: A Synergistic Relationship?

For 30 years, science education researchers and practitioners have waited for the promise of pedagogical content knowledge (PCK) to be fulfilled. PCK has the potential to shape instruction, teacher professional learning, and instructional materials. When the field speaks about PCK in terms of these benefits, a particular kind of PCK is envisioned. In our work, we refer to this kind of PCK as “canonical” to convey that it is widely accepted by the field and transcends context. Despite its promise, examples of canonical PCK are lacking in relation to the number of science topics in standards documents. In this chapter, we explore the possibility that the PCK held by teachers—“personal PCK”—can be compiled to grow the body of canonical PCK. We first describe a model of personal-canonical PCK synergy. We then explain how we have tested this synergy hypothesis, drawing on literature reviews and data collected directly from teachers. We find that, within the narrow range of topics we have focused on, personal PCK does not accumulate to fill gaps in the canon. We illustrate through several examples that instead, personal PCK appears largely as variations on PCK themes already apparent in the literature. We conclude the chapter by discussing implications for the field.