Technological pedagogical content knowledge self-confidence of prospective pre-school teachers for Science Education during the COVID-19period: A Structural Equational Modelling: Prospective pre-school teachers’ technological pedagogical content knowledge

Abstract

Covid-19, which directly affects all fields of life today, has produced results that require revaluating the perspective on education. In the age of the Covid-19 pandemic, the use of technology and competencies of educators to support the education of early childhood children drew attention to the education that teachers need to receive in the pre-service period. In this context, it is highly essential to examine the relationship between technology, pedagogy, and content knowledge that teachers acquire in the pre-service period. This study aims to identify the relationship between prospective pre-school teachers’ Technological Pedagogical Content Knowledge (TPACK) self-confidence for Science Education and TPACK sub-scales. The study utilized the relational screening method based on the quantitative research paradigm. Path analysis was performed for structural equational modeling. The study group of the research consists of 280 pre-school teacher candidates who study at the education faculties of two different state universities located in the Eastern Anatolia Region of Turkey. Data were collected through the Technological Pedagogical Content Knowledge Self-confidence Scale developed by Graham, Burgoyne, Cantrell, Smith and Harris (2009) and adapted to Turkish by Timur and Taşar (2011). The theoretical validity of the data collection tool was tested through the validity and reliability performed on the data set from prospective pre-school teachers. The results show that the TPACK variable is affected by the TPK and TCK variables directly and positively. TPK and TCK variables are affected by the TK variable directly and positively