Abstract

Ball, Hill, and Bass (2005) proposed that facilitating the development of preservice teachers' specialized content knowledge (SCK) warrants investigation. Specialized content knowledge is mathematical knowledge that is used to teach mathematics and should thus be uniquely understood by teachers. Moreover, the type of mathematics content knowledge (i.e., conceptual and procedural) that would enhance preservice teachers' SCK is not well understood. In line with Ball et al., objectives of the present study were to (a) examine whether content-focused instruction addressing division with fractions would enhance preservice teachers' SCK of this topic and (b) examine the impact of instructional content (i.e., conceptual content, and a combination of conceptual and procedural content) on preservice teachers' gains in SCK of division with fractions (SCK-DF). Eight preservice teachers were assigned to one of two treatment conditions (i.e., conceptual content, and a combination of conceptual and procedural content) and their development of SCK-DF was measured using semi-structured pre- and post-interviews. The interview data were coded using the Analysis of Specialized Content Knowledge of Division with Fractions rubric, developed by the researcher. In general, the results supported the hypothesis that (a) participants' overall SCK-DF was enhanced after instruction and (b) the participants who received the combination of conceptual and procedural instructional content demonstrated greater gains in their development in SCK-DF. Taken together, the results from the current study broaden the current understanding of ways to foster preservice teachers' SCK and have implications for future research in the area