Relations between teachers' subject matter knowledge, teaching experience and their mental models of children's minds and learning

We studied the relations between teachers' subject matter knowledge (SMK), teaching experience and espoused mental models (MMs) about children's learning. The SMK we tested was wh-constructions in English. Teachers were classified on a Subject Matter Task, to have high or low SMK. They were then interviewed to determine the nature of their espoused MM of children's learning. A total of 32 teachers were divided into 4 groups of 8 teachers each: SMK (high and low) and teaching experience (experienced and novice teachers). The findings were that despite their differences in SMK and teaching experience, the teachers had identical espoused MMs of children's learning. These data support the notion that teachers' espoused MMs have priority over their SMK.