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Is Academic Content Knowledge Sufficient for the Acquisition of Subject-Specific Professional Knowledge During University Teacher Education? An Investigation of the Trickle Down Hypothesis Ist akademisches Fachwissen hinreichend für den Erwerb eines berufsspezifischen Fachwissens im Lehramtsstudium? Eine Untersuchung der Trickle-down-Annahme

Hoth J, Jeschke C, Dreher A, Lindmeier A, Heinze A (2020)

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Publication Type: Journal article

Publication year: 2020

Journal

Book Volume: 41

Pages Range: 329-356

Journal Issue: 2

DOI: 10.1007/s13138-019-00152-0

Abstract

One main objective of university teacher education is students’ acquisition of subject-specific professional knowledge. Future secondary school teachers in Germany usually acquire their mathematics content knowledge in mathematics lectures with no reference to the nature of school mathematics. Instead, future mathematics teachers often attend the same lectures as mathematics students who do not aim at becoming a teacher. The high amount of lectures on university mathematics is legitimized by the assumption that academic content knowledge is needed to reach a deeper understanding of school mathematics. From a traditional perspective, the academic content knowledge is actually sufficient, because it is assumed that student teachers acquire simultaneously knowledge about the interrelations between school mathematics and university mathematics. Therefore, additional learning opportunities focusing on interrelations between school and academic mathematics are not needed (so-called trickle-down hypothesis). Although this assumption was already criticized by Felix Klein, empirical studies in this context are scarce. Using data from mathematics student teachers who participated in the KeiLa study at the beginning of their first year at university, this hypothesis was analyzed in a cross-sectional as well as in a longitudinal approach. Comparisons of means show a substantial increase of students’ academic content knowledge during their first year, whereas there was no significant change in their school-related content knowledge. Longitudinal analyses indicate that the effect of academic content knowledge on the development of school-related content knowledge is small, whereas individual factors like general cognitive abilities and teaching experience have an impact. Thus, the trickle-down hypothesis is not supported by these results. For teacher education at universities, additional learning opportunities to connect academic mathematics with school mathematics are therefore considered necessary.

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How to cite

APA:

Hoth, J., Jeschke, C., Dreher, A., Lindmeier, A., & Heinze, A. (2020). Is Academic Content Knowledge Sufficient for the Acquisition of Subject-Specific Professional Knowledge During University Teacher Education? An Investigation of the Trickle Down Hypothesis Ist akademisches Fachwissen hinreichend für den Erwerb eines berufsspezifischen Fachwissens im Lehramtsstudium? Eine Untersuchung der Trickle-down-Annahme. Journal für Mathematik-Didaktik, 41(2), 329-356. https://doi.org/10.1007/s13138-019-00152-0

MLA:

Hoth, Jessica, et al. "Is Academic Content Knowledge Sufficient for the Acquisition of Subject-Specific Professional Knowledge During University Teacher Education? An Investigation of the Trickle Down Hypothesis Ist akademisches Fachwissen hinreichend für den Erwerb eines berufsspezifischen Fachwissens im Lehramtsstudium? Eine Untersuchung der Trickle-down-Annahme." Journal für Mathematik-Didaktik 41.2 (2020): 329-356.

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