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Literature Review

Author: Christine Mae

Title: Subject Matter Knowledge: It Matters!

In this article, the author asks whether knowledge of subject for teachers is actually important

for the learning of that subject in students. The belief is that a teacher with greater subject matter

knowledge will be more effective than a teacher with lesser subject matter knowledge. Though this

claim seems to be common sense, the author states that the empirical evidence of this claim is

inconclusive. Therefore, she analyzes a research study done in 2019, to find empirical evidence for the

claim that greater subject matter knowledge in mathematics leads to better teaching practices and

ability in that subject. ((2019. In G. Hine, S. Blackley, & A. Cooke (Eds.). Mathematics Education

Research: Impacting Practice (Proceedings of the 42nd annual conference of the Mathematics Education

Research Group of Australasia) pp. 476-483. Perth: MERGA.))

The study focused on teachers’ abilities to teach lessons on perimeter, area and volume to

students aged 10-12 years old. It gathered data in three areas to analyze: design task, problem solving

task and noticing task. In the design task, the lessons the teacher created for the students were analyzed

for level of cognitive demand that in the area, perimeter and volume tasks ranked from 1 to 5,

prestructural to doing mathematics. In the problem-solving task, the same teachers were given math

problems designed to show their level of understanding of perimeter, volume and area, ranked from 1

to 5, low to high. In the noticing task, the same teachers analyzed student work samples to identify the

mathematical thinking of students that represented higher levels of reasoning and understanding.

Data from the three tasks were interpreted against each other to find if there were any

correlations between level of task creation, understanding of the material and noticing of students’ level

of understanding. Greater level of problem solving and understanding of the teachers was highly
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predictive of ability to notice student thinking. Analyzing the three data sets against each other, there

was a strong correlation between teacher understanding, designing a highly effective task for the

students and noticing the students understanding of the material.

The conclusion of the article discusses how the research study shows that subject matter

knowledge is very important for pedagogical knowledge. Knowledge of teaching or subject matter

knowledge alone is not enough to be an effective teacher. Though, the author does conclude that there

was little evidence of pedagogical knowledge without subject matter knowledge shown in the study. The

variability of subject knowledge and noticing of student’s understanding among the teachers was wide.

This shows that it is key for the educational system to provide teachers with more opportunities for

learning both subject matter and pedagogical knowledge.

Reference

2019. In G. Hine, S. Blackley, & A. Cooke (Eds.). Mathematics Education Research: Impacting Practice

(Proceedings of the 42nd annual conference of the Mathematics Education Research Group of

Australasia) pp. 476-483. Perth: MERGA.