Teaching Matter Content Knowledge Assessment for Preservice Elementary Teachers

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Instrument Overview

Expert Notes AvailableView expert commentary on strengths and cautions for this instrument
Strengths

Includes both SMK (Subject Matter Knowledge) and PCK (Pedagogical Content Knowledge)

Cautions

Not validated for use with high-stakes decision making, e.g. part of requirements for teachers to graduate from teacher prep program

No psychometric evidence to support reporting scores broken down by content area

The Teaching Matter Content Knowledge Assessment for Preservice Elementary Teachers is designed to measure future elementary teachers’ understanding of matter and its interactions. It focuses on content knowledge for teaching (CKT)—a combination of subject matter knowledge and the ability to apply that knowledge in classroom instruction.

This summative assessment is automatically scorable. It helps teacher educators and researchers examine how well preservice teachers understand key science concepts related to matter. The tool can be used to track growth over time, compare outcomes across teacher preparation programs, or identify areas where additional support is needed. Its focus on a single, clearly defined construct makes it especially useful for studying how teachers develop strong science content knowledge during training.

Organization

Topic
Teacher and Leader Development
Collection(s): Science Instruction and Identity
Collection Category(ies)
Teacher Knowledge
Tags
Science education

Content

Grades
1st Grade,
2nd Grade,
3rd Grade,
4th Grade,
5th Grade
Languages
English
Respondent
Teacher

Administration Information

Length
52 items

Access and Use

Price

Free

Contact

Katherine E Castellano 
Email: kecastellano@ets.org

Link
https://doi.org/10.1002/tea.21894
Open Access
Yes
Use in Research

Van Orman, D. S. J., Melton, J., Hanley, D., Castellano, K. E., Mikeska, J. N., Hanuscin, D., & Borda, E. (2024). Supporting elementary preservice teachers’ content knowledge for teaching about matter and its interactions. Journal of Research in Science Teaching, 62(4), 1103–1131. https://doi.org/10.1002/tea.21994

Psychometrics (additional guidance)

Psychometric References

Castellano, K. E., & Mikeska, J. N. (2023). Developing and using a scalable assessment to measure preservice elementary teachers’ content knowledge for teaching about matter. Journal of Research in Science Teaching, 61(6), 1389–1426. https://doi.org/10.1002/tea.21894

Item Type
Likert