Assessing Situated Knowledge

Abstract

Subconsciously, experienced teachers make use of situated knowledge: knowledge that is connected to, and arises from, the interactions between the physical environment where the action takes place and a material body acting in that environment. Since situated knowledge is important in day-to-day teaching to solve incidents, it should be taught in teacher training courses. Consequently, in the test at the end of such a course, these learning objectives should be tested. By using cases and by setting higher learning objectives that explicitly address the situated nature of this knowledge, situated knowledge can be assessed. In this study, the main question is: Do teacher trainers use cases that are aimed at acquiring situated knowledge? An empirical study, carried out in eleven secondary teacher-training programs in the Netherlands, revealed that just a single program did indeed assess situated knowledge. Considering its importance, however, it is essential that it is included in all secondary teacher-training programs. To assist teacher training programs to achieve this goal, this article offers recommendations for implementing tests with cases to assess situated knowledge.