Deep Knowledge

Deep Knowledge is a book about how people’s ideas change as they learn to teach. Using the experiences of six middle and high school student teachers as they learn to teach science in diverse classrooms, Larkin explores how their work changes the way they think about students, society, schools, and science itself. Through engaging case stories, Deep Knowledge challenges some commonly held assumptions about learning to teach and tackles problems inherent in many teacher education programs. Larkin digs deep into the details of teacher learning in a way seldom attempted in books about teacher education.

Book Features:

• Offers a teacher education framework based on teaching for understanding and equity.
• Features case studies of science teachers that are applicable to all teachers interested in teaching for social justice.
• Unpacks the problems and challenges teachers face in developing the art and skill of teaching.
• Applies insight from conceptual change learning in science to science teacher learning.

Douglas B. Larkin is an assistant professor in the Department of Secondary and Special Education at Montclair State University in New Jersey. He currently works with preservice secondary science and math teachers in the Newark-Montclair Urban Teacher Residency Program.

"This approach was both engaging and insightful, as it allowed him to document specific challenges to teaching for social equity that may have gone unnoticed quantitative study." - Perspectives on Urban Education

"Larkin's book is a timely read for all who are interested in preparing the next generation of science teachers who are capable of enacting a vibrant curriculum that meets the needs of all learners." - Science Education

"In his thought-provoking and lucid book, Douglas B. Larkin presents rich case studies of six individuals in university programmes who were learning to teach science to diverse learners." - Pedagogies: An International Journal

"Larkin contributes to the scholarly work on social justice in teaching and learning, and reinforces the message that educating today’s children will indeed make a better tomorrow for all of us." - Teachers College Record

“This engaging book is a must-read for those interested in supporting the equitable teaching of science for understanding.”
—Ken Zeichner, University of Washington

“This powerful book is for anyone seeking to understand and influence the exhilarating yet arduous process of learning to teach a diverse student population for deep and flexible understanding.”
—Ana Maria Villegas, Montclair State University

"Willing to challenge the orthodoxy of science education, Larkin's Deep Knowledge takes on an unspoken aspect of teacher education—the intellectual lives of teachers. This volume transcends science education and engages pedagogy in every field at every level."
—Gloria Ladson-Billings, Kellner Family Professor in Urban Education, University of Wisconsin–Madison

2013 The U.K. Times Higher Education Suggested Reading List