Determining Teachers’ TPACK through observations and self-report data

This study reports an arrangement directed at the development of 12 pre-service teachers’ TPACK, by guiding them in developing, practicing and teaching lessons that integrate technology for the first time. Interview, observation, and survey data were collected throughout the study. Results from the study confirmed the contention of Koehler and Mishra (2008) that teachers’ TPACK can be expressed in different ways for different students and in different contextual conditions. Analysis of lesson plan documents showed a well presented theoretical development of the teachers’ TPACK. This seemed to have aligned with their self-reported beliefs which reported slightly higher competencies of TPACK. Observation data however, indicated that teachers had acquired technology integration skills but demonstrated relatively low competencies in blending the components of TPACK. The study leaves no doubts that these teachers’ stated pedagogical beliefs did not align with their instructional practices. Introduction The notion of TPACK defined as understanding the connections and interactions between and among content knowledge (subject-matter that is to be taught), technological knowledge (computers, the Internet, digital video, etc.), and pedagogical knowledge (practices, processes, strategies, procedures and methods of teaching and learning) to improve student learning (Koehler & Mishra, 2005) is quickly becoming popular among researchers and practitioners alike. As a result, various researchers have developed related curriculum, texts, professional development models, methods of measurement, as well as advancements to the framework itself (Angeli and Valanides, 2009; Niess, 2008; Schmidt et al. 2009). However, while the theory of TPACK is compelling, there is a dilemma now facing the field as various methodologies are being developed in an attempt to measure TPACK. In several studies, survey instruments have been developed to measure teachers’ TPACK development (e.g. Schmidt et al., 2009; Archambault & Crippen; 2009). Basically these instruments assess teachers’ self report about their TPACK. Kereluik, Casperson and Akcaoglu (2010) reported that although self-reported surveys provide important information about an individual’s TPACK awareness, such data are limited to measuring individuals’ beliefs. They proposed a complementary method of analysis to identify and apply elements of TPACK in preservice teacher lesson plans and argue that for effective TPACK assessment, teachers must be able to apply their TPACK to their lessons. Another concern in measuring TPACK is the relation between teachers’ self-report data (or the instructional plans) and how teachers use TPACK in practice. Teachers may show high scores on the TPACK survey, but do not show this in observations (So & Kim, 2009). This study reports a wide range of approaches (Survey, interviews, observation and lesson plan analysis) to measure TPACK of 12 pre-service teachers. The study aims to further our thinking about the differences these teachers express in their TPACK as measured by the different approaches. Arrangement Twelve pre-service teachers worked in groups of two (six Teacher Design Teams -TDT) to design a technologybased lesson and subsequently taught them; Exemplary curriculum materials were a necessary component to inspire teachers to learn and collaborate better in their teams; the technology used mainly in the study were spreadsheet applications for mathematics, because it was readily available and user friendly with the potential of supporting students’ higher-order thinking in mathematics (Agyei & Voogt, submitted). The TDT’s learned the spreadsheet technologies they needed to as they made decisions about what content to include and with what appropriate instructional strategy, what activities and assignments they wanted their students to engage in, how their students would be assessed, and how the lesson would appear aesthetically. By designing an actual class, one member of each of the six TDT taught peers (the lesson they had developed) in a learning environment at the first instance of