Evaluating the Content Knowledge of Preservice Physical Education Teachers

Purpose: We examined the variables of common content knowledge, specialized content knowledge, and performance that preservice teachers had acquired from their K-12 physical education and extracurricular experiences and the effects of a content course on improving their content knowledge and performance.Method: Nineteen preservice teachers were assessed during a half a semester long content course using pre-and posttests of common content knowledge, soccer performance, and two specialized content knowledge variables: instructional tasks and error analysis. Relationships between experience in playing and coaching for each assessment were conducted. Data are reported descriptively and inferentially.Results: Preservice teachers had poor pretest scores on all variables except performance. Posttest scores following the content class showed substantive, highly significant relationships with large effect sizes. Yet, the levels obtained were less than desirable for all common content knowledge and specialized content knowledge variables, except performance. A number of relationships were found between experience and the measures.Discussion/Conclusion: Our results suggest that more research needs to be conducted on the design of content courses in physical education teacher education.

Automated summary

This study examined the acquisition of common content knowledge, specialized content knowledge, and performance by preservice teachers through their K-12 physical education and extracurricular experiences, as well as the effects of a content course in improving their content knowledge and performance. The results showed that the content course had a significant positive effect on the posttest scores of all variables except performance. However, the levels obtained were still suboptimal for all common content knowledge and specialized content knowledge variables. The study suggests the need for further research on the design of content courses in physical education teacher education.