Developing an instrument for assessing college students' perceptions of teachers' pedagogical content knowledge

Ongoing professional development for college teachers has been much emphasized. However, previous research has seldom addressed college students' perceptions of teachers' knowledge. The purpose of this study was to develop an instrument that could be employed to evaluate college students' perceptions of teachers' PCK. According to the pilot test results, the four categories finally constructed were Subject Matter Knowledge (SMK), Instructional Representation and Strategies (IRS), Instructional Objects and Context (IOC), and Knowledge of Students' Understanding (KSU). In the main study, seven items were generated under each category, making a total of 28 items in the questionnaire, and the instrument was administered to 172 education college students. Results of analysis indicated that the instrument about teachers' knowledge show satisfactory validity and reliability. The suggestions for application of the instrument in future research are also made. (C) 2009 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.