Summary of a Journal Related to TPACK #8

Knowledge Growth in Teaching Mathematics/Science with Spreadsheets:

Moving PCK to TPACK through Online Professional Development

Margaret L. Niess, Emily H. van Zee, Henry Gillow-Wiles (Oregon State University)

2010

In-service teachers need ways to gain an integrated knowledge of content, pedagogy, and technologies that reflects new ways of teaching and learning in the 21^st century. This interpretive study examined in-service K–8 teachers’ growth in their pedagogical content knowledge (PCK) toward technology, pedagogy, and content knowledge (TPACK) in an online graduate course designed for integrating dynamic spreadsheets as teaching and learning tools in mathematics and science. With the lens of four TPACK components (Niess, 2005), the analysis describes teachers’ development from recognizing to accepting, adapting, and exploring TPACK levels. Implications and recommendations for the design of future professional development courses and continuing research are identified to support in-service teachers’ knowledge growth or teaching with technologies.

Summary of a Journal Related to TPACK #7

TPACK in Elementary and High School Teachers’ Self -reported Classroom Practices with the Interactive Whiteboard (IWB)

Soni a Lefebvre, Ghi slain Samson, Al exandre Gareau,  Nancy Broui llette,

(Université du Québec à Troi s-Rivières)

2016

The interactive whiteboard (IWB) is increasingly used for teaching and learning in the classroom. Nevertheless, the ways that teachers incorporate this tool within their teaching practices remain poorly understood. This paper examines elementary and high school teachers’ self-reported practices with the IWB. The conceptual framework centers on teachers’ self reported practices as well as the Technological Pedagogical Content Knowledge (TPACK) model, a framework for successful integration of technology into teaching. The data were collected from discussion groups with 30 teachers. Overall, the results show a predominance of technological pedagogical knowledge (TPK) and technological Knowledge (TK) regardless of Grade level, gender, or years of teaching experience.

           

Summary of a Journal Related to TPACK #6

EXPLORING THE REASONS FOR USING ELECTRIC BOOKS AND

TECHNOLOGIC PEDAGOGICAL AND CONTENT KNOWLEDGE OF

TAIWANESE ELEMENTARY MATHEMATICS AND SCIENCE TEACHERS

Ho-Yuan Chen  

Graduate School of Education, Chung-Yuan Christian University, Chung-Li, Taiwan

2013

This study highlights trends and features of E-books and their versatility of this tool in elementary educational settings. There has been little quantitative research employed to examine teachers’ reasons for using or not using E-books. The purpose of this study was to examine elementary school mathematics and science teachers’ reasons for using or not using E-books and to assess how the use of E-books relates to TPACK among Taiwanese teachers. The survey was developed based on an overview of discussions from prior research related to the benefits and drawbacks of using E-books. The results show the percentages for four reasons for using E-books were high, and low for four reasons for not using E-books. The teachers’ perceptions of E-books’ usefulness and ability to increase motivation and interaction were significantly different according to gender and the perceptions of E-books’ ability to increase interaction were significantly different according to teaching experience. Elementary science teachers demonstrated significantly higher TPACK than elementary mathematics teachers. There was no significant difference found in TPACK according to gender, except for in teachers’ technological knowledge. Teachers who had more years of teaching experience demonstrated significantly higher TPACK than the teachers who had fewer years of teaching experience. The results of this study can provide researchers, policy makers, and school administrators with a better understanding of elementary school teachers’ perspectives.

            This study is unique in that it examines in-service elementary teachers’ TPACK by integrating teachers’ knowledge of students’ learning situations as a context factor in the proposed model. The results provide significant contributions to the research of E-book use by examining elementary teachers’ current use of E-books in Taiwan and their development of TPACK. Another significant contribution is that teaching subjects and teaching experiences can play crucial roles in teachers’ TPACK. The results of this study can provide researchers, policy makers, and school administrators with a better understanding of current elementary school science and mathematics teachers’ perspectives.

Summary of a Journal Related to TPACK #5

Designing Optical Spreadsheets-Technological Pedagogical Content Knowledge Simulation (S-Tpack): A Case Study of Pre-Service Teachers Course

M. Anas Thohir

Yogyakarta State University, Indonesia

In the 21st century, the competence of instructional technological design is important for pre-service physics teachers. This case study described the pre-service physics teachers' design of optical spreadsheet simulation and evaluated teaching and learning the task in the classroom. In this case, participants were three pre-service teachers (two male and one female) chosen from 30 Physics students of Yogyakarta State University. They have been attending optics course for 14 weeks in 6th semester of the academic year 2016. They aged 23 to 26 years old. All of them have followed basic computer program like Word, PowerPoint, and Excel.

A bonded system explored basic knowledge and integration ability of the pre-service teacher. In addition, peers assessed the simulated performance of pre-service teachers by using Spreadsheet-Technological Pedagogical Content Knowledge (S-TPACK). Pre-service teachers transform the topic into a unique spreadsheet simulation. One of them designed with high complexity, but the others are not. However, they demonstrated different the intensity and integrity of teaching strategies, the depth of optical topics, and interactive spreadsheets. In the future, the design of instructional technology will need to pay attention to the basic knowledge of TPACK, problem-solving, and self-efficacy.

This case study has three implications in design and spreadsheet simulation. The first, the study recommends using spreadsheets for easy, cheap and flexible purposes in designing physics topics. Three pre-service teachers have proven that they have designed different optical topics with different forms and interactive. Second, design activities require knowledge, skills, and attitudes. (1) Basic knowledge is required as the main capital in the design that is knowledge of appropriate physics topic, technological expertise, and pedagogical knowledge. (2)

Creativity design helps in integrating technological skills into the knowledge of physics topics and pedagogical knowledge at once. Design creativity requires problem-solving and decision-making skills in brainstorming conditions. Strong imagination also helps to get a unique design. (3) Self-efficacy, self-believe, or confidence is required to assure the ability to achieve an optimal design. Finally, simulation activities can be evaluated using S-TPACK and peer comments. S-TPACK helps pre-service and instructor to know the intensity of PK, CK, and TK from the diagram. In addition, S TPACK can show PCK, TCK, and PTK based on PK, CK, and TK diagram intersections.

Summary of a Journal Related to TPACK #4

TPACK: AN EMERGING RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT TOOL

FOR TEACHER EDUCATORS

Evrim Baran (University of British Columbia), Hsueh-Hua Chuang (National Sun Yat-sen University), Ann Thompson (Iowa State University)

Published in 2011

TPACK (Technological Pedagogical Content Knowledge) has been currently emerged as a useful tool for researcher to understand the integration of technology in teaching and learning process. TPACK has now entered a new generation where the focus is upon using the construct in both research and development projects. In this study, the TPACK construct is defined and several current research and development projects that use the TPACK framework are described.

Following the development of the TPACK framework, researchers began to work on the problem of assessing both pre-service and in-service teachers’ levels of TPACK. Data are being gathered at specific checkpoints during the pre-service teachers’ preparation program. As part of this study, pre-service teachers are being tracked during their teacher education program and asked to complete the survey after completing their instructional technology course, methodology courses, and student teaching. Additional qualitative research studies are also being conducted to examine how these same pre-service teachers demonstrate TPACK-related tendencies in PreK–6 classrooms during practicum and student teaching experiences.

The TPACK survey is currently being translated into different languages and adopted to different teacher education contexts around the world. The interest of using TPACK framework and the TPACK survey for designing and assessing teacher knowledge in various international teacher education contexts is a clear indication of the world wide impact of TPACK as an emerging research and development tool for teacher educators. Some K–12 school districts in the United States also found that the TPACK framework is useful for designing and structuring their technology integration programs.

In general, the TPACK framework has provided a means for educational technology researchers and practitioners to communicate more accurately and effectively about the work they are doing. In addition to the work to clarify the knowledge to be developed in pre-service and in-service teachers, TPACK can bring clarity to the specific interventions in research and development projects and thus improve the ability to design and test powerful technology approaches.

Summary of a Journal Related to TPACK #3

USING THE INTERNET IN HIGH SCHOOL MATHEMATICS

Esther Yook-Kin Loong, Deakin University, Australia (2014)

While the technological, pedagogical and content knowledge (TPACK) model has been increasingly adopted for understanding teachers’ use of technology, there have been many calls for greater discussion about the constituent constructs, their relationship with one another and the central TPACK. This study analyses qualitatively the TPACK demonstrated by the teacher

This case study was part of a broader study where the teacher participated in a survey on the use of the Internet for secondary mathematics teaching. A mixed methods approach was used. Both quantitative and qualitative methods were employed to ascertain how the teacher used the Internet in a mathematics assessment task and the students’ perceptions of that approach. Data collection methods included an initial teacher interview prior to classroom observations, classroom observations, post-lesson student interviews and post lesson teacher interviews. A questionnaire survey on student attitudes to and perceptions of the use of the Internet in mathematics lessons was completed by students at the end of the observations.

This case study illustrates the extent to which a teacher’s TPACK of the Internet and Microsoft Excel software resulted in an enactment of technology use in a Business Mathematics classroom. While the pedagogical intent of the teacher was to use the Internet to save time and to discuss the mathematical content by comparing the calculations using bank calculators and the spreadsheet software, the data indicated that student perceptions of this approach were mixed. Although the study showed that the assessment goals were met and the Internet and Excel software were tools used to accomplish that, there was little evidence to suggest that students experienced a transformation in their mathematical learning. Management of the academic learning time was seen by the teacher as an area that needed to be reviewed and improved so that the important aspects of mathematical analysis and application take precedence over collecting data with the help of the Internet.