RUNNING HEAD: CONTENT KNOWELDGE

Content Knowledge and Stand-Based Instruction

Liz Finck
Regent UniversityIntroduction
Standards provide teachers and students a guideline as to what content students
should obtain. In order for students to be able to form an understanding, teachers must
first have a firm grasp of the content material. Once teachers have a deep understanding
of content they are able to provide students a multitude of routes to begin to form their
own understanding of content.
Rationale
In artifact 1, I present a set of labs centers on a unit about light. Students are
provided five centers, each that focus on a different part of the standards on light. In each
of these centers included short instructions and the materials necessary to complete the
task. These labs provide students an opportunity to discover and form knowledge

CONTENT KNOWLEDGE

independently about the concept of light while avoiding straight direct teacher lecturing.
This provides students the opportunity and skills to teach themselves. The given image is
the students reflection page. Students were to conduct the given experiment and use that
sheet to reflect upon what they saw occur. This lab sheet provided questions and
statements from all levels of Blooms Taxonomy in order to conduct student thinking and
communication.
The second artifact was a short hands-on activity students complete on the same
unit about light. Students had a difficult time understanding the three vocabulary words
transparent, translucent and opaque. Students would hold up each window covered by
one of three materials and describe what they could or could not see. This gave the
students an opportunity to not only restate the definitions of the vocabulary words, but to
be able to apply the vocabulary to real-life situations, which they displayed in their
example section of the activity.
Reflection
Content is the purpose for students to be in school. They are there to learn the
material necessary for them to succeed in life. As a teacher, it is important for me to have
a firm grasp on the content knowledge that is expected to be gain by my students. This
does not mean I must know absolutely everything about the topic, but that I should hold a
firm understanding about the material that is stated in the states standard. It is impossible
for me to expect my students to understand a concept if I, myself, does not truly
understand it. Throughout my college career I was required to take a multitude of general
education classes. I did not have a firm grasp as to how important those classes were,
until I started student teaching. Since I have a firm understanding of the knowledge

CONTENT KNOWLEDGE

necessary to teach the States standard, I was able to provide my students the opportunity
to discover knowledge on their own. When one discovers the knowledge on their own
they form a deeper understanding of the concept.
Teachers must have a deep understanding of standards and content in order to lead
their students learning. When teachers have a firm grasp of the content that students are
required to understand then and only then may they be able to dissect standards and
determine a method of teaching. Those who have a deep understanding can easily provide
students the best activities necessary to learn the materials.
References
Wiggins, G., & McTighe, J. (2005). Understanding by design (Expanded 2nd ed.).
Alexandria, VA: Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development.