Learning through teaching: the development of pedagogical content knowledge among novice mathematics teachers

Pedagogical content knowledge (PCK) has been widely recognised as an important aspect of the expertise for teaching. However, the extent to which teachers' own teaching practice can be a learning resource for them to develop PCK has not been systematically explored. This empirical study aimed to explore the unique contribution of the work of teaching in teachers' PCK growth by concurrently considering other external professional learning opportunities teachers may have on the job. Using longitudinal data from 207 elementary and middle school teachers in the United States, we found that teachers increased their PCK through teaching on their own, albeit at different rates. Our findings were robust when other external learning opportunities teachers had were taken into account. Our findings underscored the importance of teachers' robust knowledge of school mathematics in the development of their PCK through teaching.