Professional Knowledge and Pedagogy
Focus your review
Professional Knowledge and Pedagogy tests how learning happens and how teachers decide what to do next. Know child development (Piaget's stages, Vygotsky's zone of proximal development and scaffolding), motivation (intrinsic and extrinsic, growth mindset), and behaviorism (reinforcement and punishment). Classroom management rests on routines, clear expectations, proximity, and positive redirection. Assessment covers formative versus summative purposes, validity (measures what it claims), reliability (consistency), bias, and appropriate use of standardized data. Also expect differentiation, Universal Design for Learning, sheltered instruction for English learners, special education law (IDEA: IEP, free appropriate public education, least restrictive environment; Section 504: accommodations), plus confidentiality under FERPA, mandated reporting, and professional communication with families.
Traps
Items describe 'learning styles' as research-supported (it is not) or equate negative reinforcement with punishment - negative reinforcement removes a stimulus to increase behavior. Validity and reliability get swapped. IEP versus 504 confusion is common, as is assuming a student must be placed in a separate setting to receive services.
Worked example
A bathroom scale reads five pounds heavy every time. It is reliable (consistent) but not valid (inaccurate). Rule of thumb: reliability is consistency; validity is truth.