Analysis of Pedagogical Content Knowledge Studies in the Context of Mathematics Education in Turkey: A Meta-Synthesis Study

Abstract

Studies that explore pedagogical content knowledge (PCK) in the field of mathematics education date back to the turn of the century in Turkey. In recent years, studies on PCK have gained momentum. Master’s theses and doctoral dissertations have been written on PCK. In this context, there is a need to analyze the studies on PCK in Turkey to discover the dominant trends and to determine the gaps in the field. Understanding the current situation is important and essential for researchers in this field. Thus, this study analyzes PCK studies in the field of mathematics education in Turkey by using the meta-synthesis approach. As part of this study, 56 studies, which include 24 dissertations, 27 articles, and five proceedings all published between 2004 and 2015, have been analyzed. These studies were analyzed thematically and methodologically. Analyses of these works revealed that most of the studies had concentrated on determining the existing PCK of teacher candidates and that the most extensively studied PCK components were knowledge about students and knowledge of teaching strategies and representations. In addition it was found that qualitative approach was dominant methodology of these studies and algebra was the mostly studied mathematical context.