How Does Incommensurability Govern The Theoretical Movement Of The PCK Towards Health Science Education?

Abstract

This article explores the epistemic discussion on pedagogical content knowledge (PCK), with the objective of elucidating the reasons for the scarce permeability of this theory in its penetration into the field of health professions education (HPE). This article argues that the incommensurability thesis, including a holistic and a cognitive/naturalized interpretation of the concept, can largely explain the heuristic futility of PCK in this domain to date. As a result, it is affirmed that in the movement of theories between cognate fields: Education and HPE, an incommensurability based on both of these theoretical branches could be noticed.

With all above, we propose that the professions’ disciplinary knowledge constitutes the conceptual basis to overcome the incommensurability of PCK in the field of HPE. In logical terms, although this alone does not constitute the most sufficient condition, it corresponds to a necessary condition for the theory progress.