Juang, Y.-R., Liu, T.-C., & Chan, T.-W. (2008). Computer-Supported Teacher Development of Pedagogical Content Knowledge through Developing School-Based Curriculum. Educational Technology & Society, 11 (2), 149-170. 149 ISSN 1436-4522 (online) and 1176-3647 (print). © International Forum of Educational Technology & Society (IFETS). The authors and the forum jointly retain the copyright of the articles. Permission to make digital or hard copies of part or all of this work for personal or classroom use is granted without fee provided that copies are not made or distributed for profit or commercial advantage and that copies bear the full citation on the first page. Copyrights for components of this work owned by others than IFETS must be honoured. Abstracting with credit is permitted. To copy otherwise, to republish, to post on servers, or to redistribute to lists, requires prior specific permission and/or a fee. Request permissions from the editors at kinshuk@ieee.org. Computer-Supported Teacher Development of Pedagogical Content Knowledge through Developing School-Based Curriculum Yih-Ruey Juang Department of Information Management, Jinwen University of Science and Technology, Taiwan // Tel: +886-2-82122000 // Fax: +886-2-82122339 // yrjuang@just.edu.tw Tzu-Chien Liu Graduate Institute of Learning & Instruction, National Central University, Taiwan // Tel: +886-3-4227151 Ext. 33851 // Fax: +886-3-4273371 // ltc@cc.ncu.edu.tw Tak-Wai Chan Graduate Institute of Network Learning Technology, National Central University, Taiwan // Tel: +886-3-4227151 Ext. 35400 // Fax: +886-3-4261931 // chan@cl.ncu.edu.tw ABSTRACT Pedagogical content knowledge (PCK) is essential to career development for teachers. Teachers can develop their own PCK by research-based activities such as action research and lesson study, with a particular emphasis on the employment of classroom practice, information technology, and collaborative learning. However, in recent studies, most of the models for enhancing teachers’ PCK focus on individual teachers or teacher groups, and there is less chance of receiving support from the school leadership and institutional resources. This study proposes a development model for PCK known as the 3C-model and implements a support system for it, known as EDUPLAN. The model engages teachers in collaboratively constructing and sharing a knowledge-base of lesson plans with the involvement of different levels of school members for their school’s curriculum. Through the process of school-based curriculum development, the model was found to increase teacher PCK and collaboration. Finally, the supporting system is found to be capable of enhancing performance in lesson plan construction and revision and thus the efficiency of PCK development. Keywords Pedagogical content knowledge (PCK), Lesson plan, School-based curriculum development, Teacher professional development Introduction Pedagogical content knowledge (PCK), one of the most important bodies of knowledge a teacher must master, represents the blending of content and pedagogy into understanding, and is closely linked to the instructional practice of teachers (Shulman, 1986). PCK refers to the professional understanding of how to organize and present specific topics, problems, or issues for instruction according to student background, school educational goals, and educational context. However, PCK cannot be fully obtained from pre-service teacher education and must be developed subject by subject through long-term immersion in curriculum development and classroom practices (Borko, Livingston, McCaleb, & Mauro, 1988). Since PCK is crucial for instructional professionals and is difficult to construct, enhancing teacher PCK is often regarded as the main objective of teacher professional development (Shulman, 1987; McDiarmid, Ball, & Anderson, 1989; Tamir, 1990). Furthermore, teachers can develop their own PCK by research-based activities, the application of learning in everyday classroom practice, information technology, and collaborative learning among teachers, resulting in growth of the PCK of teachers. Although there are numerous ways of research-based activities to support teachers in developing their own PCK, including action research and lesson study, most development models only emphasize collaboration/cooperation among teachers while neglecting the participation of other school members or internal organizations, such as the school curriculum development committee, that can be involved in guiding teachers in performing research and providing relevant professional knowledge for acquiring PCK. Through school-wide activities, such as school-based curriculum development (SBCD), the results of professional development in PCK can be effectively enhanced by providing institutional support and appropriate leadership via the school.