A Study On The Correlation Between Pedagogical Content Knowledge And Teaching Efficacy Of Junior Middle School Mathematics Teachers

Under the background of compulsory education curriculum reform,which takes core quality as the concentrated embodiment of curriculum education objectives,higher requirements are put forward for teachers’ professional quality.As the core characteristic knowledge of teachers’ knowledge,pedagogical content knowledge directly affects teachers’teaching practice and also relates to the improvement of teachers’ literacy ability.Teaching efficacy,which belongs to the category of belief,is an important internal dynamic mechanism in promoting teachers’ professional development and plays an intermediary role in the process from practice to belief.Foreign scholars have discussed the relationship between the two fields,but in China,there is little research on the relationship between the two fields,so the research focuses on the two fields and their mutual influence.Function is the core content of mathematics course in junior middle school,and also the difficulty of learning and teaching.This paper takes primary function unit as an example to study the current situation and relationship between pedagogical content knowledge and teaching efficacy of junior middle school mathematics teachers,in an attempt to find a new perspective from teaching efficacy to improve teachers’ PCK and jointly help teachers’ professional development.Based on the above background,research questions are proposed:(1)How do junior middle school mathematics teachers perform in teaching knowledge of functional unit subjects?How are the dimensions represented?What are the PCK differences of junior middle school mathematics teachers with different background characteristics?(2)What is the overall performance of junior middle school mathematics teachers’teaching efficacy?What are the differences in teaching efficacy of junior middle school Mathematics teachers with different background characteristics?(3)What is the correlation between the pedagogical content knowledge of junior middle school mathematics teachers and their teaching efficacy and each dimension?(4)Does teaching efficacy have a predictive effect on pedagogical content knowledge?Firstly,the paper traces the development and evolution of PCK and MPCK as well as teaching efficacy through literature research,including the connotation and elements of pedagogical content knowledge and mathematics subject teaching knowledge,the measurement of subject teaching knowledge,the connotation and measurement of teaching efficacy,the relationship between PCK and teaching efficacy,and the related research of first order function.On this basis,the theoretical basis and conceptual definition are determined.Secondly,determine the research object,research methods and tools according to the research problems.120 junior middle school teachers in H province who participated in national training were selected as the research objects.In view of the reticence of PCK,qualitative and quantitative research were used to investigate teachers.Based on the Park five-factor model and the existing research results,the PCK test paper for junior middle school mathematics teachers is prepared.The teaching efficacy questionnaire adopted STEBI-A,a tool for measuring in-service teachers’ teaching effectiveness belief compiled by Riggs and Enochs.In order to adapt to the research problems in this paper,the questionnaire title was moderately modified.The reliability and validity of the two questionnaires were good.Finally,data processing and analysis are carried out.A total of 118 valid questionnaires were screened out.For the teachers ’PCK test paper,key words were summarized from the teachers’ actual answers,and the coding process was carried out.Evaluation criteria were determined according to the compulsory education curriculum standard(2022 edition)and related research,and qualitative and quantitative analysis was carried out.Combined with the interview,the teachers’ answers are supplemented and the reasons behind are analyzed.Subsequently,SPSS26.0 was used to make a descriptive analysis of teachers’ PCK and teaching efficacy,and the differences between teachers’ PCK and teaching efficacy with different background characteristics were analyzed,and the correlation between junior middle school mathematics teachers’ PCK and teaching efficacy as well as the single and multiple regression analysis of teaching efficacy on teachers’ PCK were explored,and the following conclusions were obtained:(1)The primary function PCK of junior middle school mathematics teachers is at an intermediate level with a low excellence rate.The average score of curriculum knowledge is the highest,followed by strategy knowledge,teaching objective knowledge,knowledge about students and evaluation knowledge is the lowest.From the difference analysis,teaching years have significant differences in the overall PCK,curriculum knowledge,student knowledge and evaluation knowledge level of teachers,but have no significant differences in the knowledge level of teaching objectives and strategies.In addition to the knowledge of teaching objectives,teachers’ professional titles have no significant differences in the other four dimensions and teachers’ first function PCK as a whole.There is no significant difference in PCK of teachers’ primary function among different school types.(2)The teaching efficacy of junior middle school mathematics teachers is above the medium level.Among them,individual mathematics teacher effectiveness(PMTE)dimension scores were higher and mathematics teacher outcome expectations(MTOE)scores were slightly lower.Teaching years and professional titles have significant differences on the level of teachers’ teaching efficacy.In two dimensions,there are significant differences in the performance of teachers with different teaching years and professional titles.There is no significant difference between the two dimensions of teaching efficacy of teachers with different types of teaching schools.But generally speaking,the longer the teaching experience,the higher the professional title of the teachers,the higher the level of teaching efficacy.(3)There is a significant positive correlation between junior middle school mathematics teachers’ subject teaching knowledge and teaching efficacy.Only the knowledge of teaching objectives has no correlation with teaching efficacy,while the curriculum knowledge,student knowledge,strategy knowledge and evaluation have positive correlation with the two dimensions of teaching efficacy.(4)Teachers’ teaching efficacy has a positive predictive effect on the subject teaching knowledge of junior middle school mathematics teachers,and both the expectation of mathematics teaching outcome and the personal efficacy of mathematics teachers can positively predict the change of subject teaching knowledge.The unitary linear regression equation of junior middle school mathematics teachers’teaching efficacy(x)to subject teaching knowledge(y)is:y=0.399+0.856xTwo dimensions of junior middle School Mathematics teachers’ teaching efficacy Mathematics teaching outcome expectation(x1)and individual mathematics teacher efficacy(x2)The multiple linear regression equation of teachers’ Pedagogical content knowledge is:y=0.391x1+0.402x2+0.050Based on the conclusion of the study,the author makes some suggestions and explains the limitations of the study and the problems of further research.