Review of Literature: Pedagogical Content Knowledge and String Teacher Preparation

In the past few decades, there has been an increase in the percentage of non-string specialists teaching string classes. In this article, we review literature about subject-specific pedagogical content knowledge (PCK) in general and music education settings, to better understand the challenges that teachers with limited knowledge of string-specific content may face when teaching strings students. Included in this review are discussions concerning trends in the string teacher workforce, PCK in education and music, acquisition of PCK in general settings and music teacher preparation programs, and relationships between teacher content knowledge and instructional effectiveness, both in general and string education settings. Based on this review, we recommend that preservice and professional development curricula for music teachers include comprehensive preparation in both content-specific and pedagogical-specific knowledge for teaching strings.