Development and Transfer of Technological Pedagogical Content Knowledge (TPACK) of Special Education Teachers

This dissertation presents findings of three studies investigating the development and transfer of TPACK of pre-service and in-service elementary school special education teachers. The dissertation is presented in a non-traditional format including an introduction, three manuscripts submitted for journal publication, and a summary chapter. The purpose of the first study was to analyze development of TPACK of pre-service elementary special education teachers enrolled in a graduate level pedagogy course Integrating Technology in Mathematics and Science Instruction in Special Education and Inclusive Classrooms in a New York City public college. The study’s research question was to find out whether the TPACK- based course affects TPACK and basic TPACK domains of pre-service special education teachers’ knowledge: TK – technological knowledge, PK – pedagogical knowledge, and CK – content knowledge. The paired sample t-test indicated significant gains in teachers’ TPACK, however there were no significant changes in PK, TK and CK. The first study raised questions of whether the TPACK basic domains are independent of the TPACK domain. The purpose of the second study was to investigate the question raised in the first study i.e., whether TK, PK, and CK are independent constructs in the TPACK framework and to develop instruments for assessing the basic domains of the TPACK. Exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses suggested that the TPACK construct is independent from TK, PK, and CK. Multiple linear regression showed that TK, PK and CK are not predictors of the TPACK for this population. The purpose of the third study was to analyze TPACK development and a learning trajectory of a single pre-service elementary special education teacher and TPACK transfer from this course to the teaching during the induction to teaching year. It was noted that the graduate pedagogy course played a critical role in developing pre-service teacher’s TPACK. The study suggested several internal (teacher’s attitude towards using technology and preparedness – teacher’s comfort with using technology) and external (access to technology and school support) factors affecting transfer of teacher’s TPACK from her pre-service to in-service teaching experience

Mathematics Preservice Teachers’ Perceptions Regarding ICT Use in Teaching and Learning Practices

Background: Since we have been living in the digital age, the ways of interacting with information, data and other human beings have changed. Being so, teachers need to understand their new role in pedagogical environments, changing their perspectives, and, most of all, transforming their knowledge to be able to teach with digital Information and Communication Technologies (ICT). Concerns about this new kind of teacher knowledge led to discussions that culminated, in the beginning of the 21st century, with the development of the Technological Pedagogical Content Knowledge (TPACK) framework. Objectives: Knowing the importance of preparing teachers to work with ICT to enrich their pedagogical practices, we propose this qualitative study that aims to analyse perceptions of a group of preservice teachers about the use of ICT in mathematics teaching and learning practices. Design: This study has a qualitative approach and it can be understood as a case study. Setting and Participants: The participants are 10 preservice teachers from a Portuguese University. Data collection and analysis: Data were collected using a survey and the responses were analysed through Discursive Textual Analysis. Results: We understand that most participants have a well-developed TPACK and they can see several educational benefits from using ICT to teach and learn mathematics. Conclusions: The results of this study highlight the valuable activity of this preservice teachers’ course, which is committed with the goal of helping them to develop their own TPACK

Mathematics Teacher TPACK Standards and Revising Teacher Preparation

What knowledge do teachers need for integrating appropriate digital technologies in teaching mathematics? An overarching construct called TPACK is proposed as the interconnection and intersection of knowledge among technology, pedagogy, and content and is referred to as the total knowledge package for teaching mathematics with technology. Five stages in the process of developing TPACK - recognizing, accepting, adapting, exploring, and adapting – describe the process of teachers’ learning to integrate technology. Teachers learn to teach mathematics from their own learning – K-12 mathematics - collegiate mathematics coursework, teacher preparation program, field experiences and professional development as they teach mathematics. The challenge is to identify appropriate experiences to guide this integration of technology in teaching mathematics in ways that develop TPACK. A framework for these experiences directs attention to emergent social and psychological perspectives

Universal design for Learning as a context for embedding technology in Primary School mathematics

In this cross-border comparative study, 29 Postgraduate Certificate in Education students in Northern Ireland and 28 final year Bachelor of Education students in the Republic of Ireland were given a questionnaire to assess their baseline Technological, Pedagogical, and Content Knowledge for teaching mathematics (Mishra & Koehler, 2006). A teaching intervention followed in which students engaged in modules on mathematics education, digital learning and assessment, as part of their compulsory studies in Initial Teacher Education. What was novel with the approach taken, was that the students were introduced to the educational framework, Universal Design for Learning (Rose & Meyer, 2000) in order to successfully integrate all three modules and to embed technology in planning mathematics lessons. The students undertook school placement where technology was an integral part of planning to support children’s mathematical understanding through providing multiple means of representation, action and expression, and engagement (CAST, n.d.). After this, the students retook the questionnaire. Findings show that by embedding the three key principles of Universal Design in Initial Teacher Education modules; multiple means of representation, action and expression, and engagement; an ideal context is provided for which to develop students’ Technological, Pedagogical, and Content Knowledge for teaching mathematics in the primary school classroom

Making Manipulatives for Mathematics Education

This paper describes the efforts of an interdisciplinary team of researchers as they collaborated to create a digital fabrication curriculum module for mathematics teacher education. The initial four-day workshop design was piloted with five pre-service teachers. The design objective was to introduce digital fabrication techniques joint with mathematical concepts and the design of classroom activities to develop pre-service teachers' technological, pedagogical, and content knowledge. The workshops included activities to find, adapt, create, and share mathematical manipulatives using digital fabrication tools, techniques, and platforms. Manipulatives are tangible objects reifying mathematical concepts and one type of representation used in mathematics teaching. The paper reports on the design process and our design motivations to address contextual constraints and varying levels of exposure to digital fabrication for both pre-service teachers and teacher educators. The developed "find-adapt-create-share" framework for introducing digital fabrication was evaluated through researchers' self-reflection and pre-service teachers' feedback during concluding interviews.publishedVersio

Examining Preservice Mathematics Teachers’ Technological Pedagogical Content Knowledge Development in The Natural Setting of A Teacher Preparation Program

This study examined preservice elementary mathematics teachers’ technological pedagogical content knowledge (TPACK) development throughout their final year in the natural setting of a teacher preparation program. Data were collected from thirty-eight preservice teachers via a TPACK self-assessment scale with seven subdomains at the beginning and end of the final year. Descriptive statistics, correlation and regression analysis were used. Results showed that participants had significantly positive gains in their PK, TK, TPK, PCK, and TPACK with medium to large effect sizes. Correlation analysis indicated that participants developed a more integrative understanding of TPACK. Participants’ TCK, TPK, and PCK were significant predictors of their TPACK at the end of the program. The teacher preparation program seems to support preservice teachers’ pedagogical thinking primarily. Therefore, it is suggested to enhance the technological aspects of the program

Teach Mathematics with technology: put into practice a theoretical framework

This paper is a report on the findings of a study conducted to examine the results of implementing an educational technology course focused on interactive whiteboard classroom applications according to TPACK Mathematics. It was examined the change in teachers’ attitudes toward using technology and perceived ability to integrate interactive whiteboards in Mathematics class, 9 months after and 3 years later. It is exposed the theoretical TPACK about integration of educational technology in the teaching/learning process, reflecting on the need for teachers to have continuous professional development. It was observed a positive evolution about their use of ICT in classroom context and their level of competence in ICT use, reporting that this kind of training is usefulness in their teaching practice and can contribute to improve student learning by their professional development.Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia (FCT

An Examination of Secondary Mathematics Teachers\u27 Tpack Development Through Participation in a Technology-Based Lesson Study

This qualitative research study used a layered case study (Patton, 2002) to examine the technological, pedagogical, and content knowledge (TPACK) of a group of inservice secondary mathematics teachers as they participated in a technology-based lesson study. Using the TPACK Development Model (Niess, 2009) as a lens, this dissertation examines interactions of the group members during lesson study meetings as well as individual case studies of four of the six participants. Data were gathered from initial surveys, initial and post-interviews, initial and post-classroom observations, writing prompts, and transcriptions of lesson study group meetings. Data were analyzed to determine the TPACK development levels for different themes of the model at different stages during the lesson study process. Thick descriptions are provided of actions and quotes from the participants that exemplified various TPACK development levels. Findings indicated that the design and purpose of technology-based lesson study provided participants opportunities to practice actions from the higher levels of the TPACK Development Model during the lesson study. Based on classroom observations, half of the participants demonstrated practices that indicated increases in TPACK development levels following the lesson study. Those participants with less experience with technology in their educational backgrounds demonstrated greater positive changes. Participant responses to interview questions and writing prompts indicated that experiencing learning with technology and observing students\u27 thinking served to prompt changes in their own practices

The EFL pre-service teachers' experiences and challenges in designing teaching materials using TPACK framework

This study aimed to explore the EFL (English as a Foreign Language) pre-service teachers’ experiences in designing and implementing teaching materials by using the Technological Pedagogical Content Knowledge (TPACK) framework through the Learning by Design (LBD) approach. It also identified the challenges faced by the pre-service teachers in designing and implementing the teaching materials. This study involved EFL pre-service teachers in the Province of East Kalimantan, Indonesia. Semi-structured interviews and document analysis were used to gather data needed to accomplish the research objectives. The results of the study showed that the LBD approach was found to be beneficial for the pre-service teachers in designing and implementing teaching materials by using the TPACK framework. The LBD approach helped the pre-service teachers in combining the technological tools and applications with teaching. The EFL pre-service teachers believed that the process that they experienced, enabled them to have a positive change in designing the teaching materials. However, some challenges were still faced by the EFL pre-service teachers in designing and implementing the teaching materials. These included the EFL pre-service teachers’ low level of computer skill, their lack of proficiency in content knowledge, and the availability of media. Moreover, the challenges they faced did not make them afraid of having more experience in LBD activities to promote their abilities in designing teaching materials and in teaching using the materials.

Turkish Pre-service Secondary Mathematics Teachers: An Examination of TPACK, Affect, and Their Relationship

Pre-service teachers\u27 knowledge, beliefs or attitudes gained during their undergraduate education is one of the most influential factors shaping their future teaching in their field. Technological Pedagogical Content Knowledge framework (TPACK; Mishra & Koehler, 2006) identifies the knowledge domains needed by teachers to effectively integrate technology into teaching their field. Due to the fact that pre-service teachers\u27 TPACK domains cannot be directly measured, most of research studies in the literature addressed developing a TPACK survey instrument in order to indirectly measure teachers\u27 TPACK in terms of their perceptions. However, there were rare research studies focusing on development a TPACK survey instrument for pre-service secondary mathematics teachers, especially in Turkey too. Therefore, the main goal of this study is to examine Turkish pre-service secondary mathematics teachers\u27 perceptions regarding TPACK domains, as well as adapting TPACK survey instrument, developed by Zelkowski and his colleagues (2013), into Turkish language and context. Another purpose of this study is to investigate the relationships among TPACK components, and the relationships of pre-service teachers\u27 attitudes towards use of technology in education with their TPACK components. This study also aims to explore the effects of demographics differences (gender and year of enrollment) on their perceptions regarding TPACK domains and attitudes. Survey, correlational and causal-comparative research designs were used in this study. To adapt the TPACK survey instrument into Turkish, the following processes were used: forward translation, backwards translation, comparison of original TPACK survey with backward translation, expert reviews and cognitive interviews. The data were collected in terms of two studies, the pilot and main studies, during the fall semester of 2016 in Turkey. Two survey instruments, the Turkish TPACK and Attitude scale towards Computer-Aided Education (Arslan, 2006), were used to collect the data. The total of 778 pre-service secondary mathematics teachers participated in this study as volunteer. The pilot study data was used to examine translation of the Turkish TPACK survey instrument and to determine its hypothesized factor structure. The main study data was utilized to validate its factor structure and to conduct further statistical analysis related to the research questions. The results of factor and reliability analysis showed that the Turkish TPACK survey instrument is valid and reliable for five factors (TK, CK, PK, TPK, and TPACK) including 29 items. The findings of correlations analysis indicated that there were significant positive correlations among five TPACK components with small or moderate effect sizes. In addition, the relationships of pre-service teachers\u27 attitudes with TPACK components were positive and significant, with small or moderate effect sizes. The results of MANOVA displayed that the linear combination of TPACK components differentiated with respect to pre-service teachers\u27 gender and year of enrollment. According to findings of MANOVA, male pre-service teachers had significantly better perceptions about TK and CK than females. Furthermore, fifth grades showed significantly higher perceptions related to CK and TPACK than first and second grades, as well as third grades had greater perceptions on CK than first grades. The findings of ANOVA revealed that there were no statistically differences of pre-service teachers\u27 attitudes towards use of technology with respect to gender, although they had significantly mean differences in regard to year of enrollment. According to the results of ANOVA, five grades had more positive attitudes than first and second grades, as well as third grades had more positive attitudes than first grades. Regarding of finding in this study, future research may focus on which factors influence the development of pre-service teachers\u27 TPACK by means of experimental research studies; and on why male and female pre-service teachers\u27 perceptions in associated with some of TPACK components become different