An Investigation of Early Childhood Teachers’ Technological Pedagogical Content Knowledge TPACK in Taiwan

Year 2011, Volume: 12 Issue: 2, 99 - 117, 01.05.2011

Hsueh-hua Chuang Chao-ju Ho

Abstract

This study aimed to investigate technological pedagogical content knowledge TPACK of early childhood teachers in Taiwan. Quantitative Data was collected from a sample of 335 in-service early childhood teachers in Taiwan. The instrument was translated and adapted from Schmidt et al. 2009 TPACK survey instrument with added items to fit the early educational context in Taiwan. Data analysis methods included descriptive statistics, Pearson correlation, and MANOVA. Findings from the study were summarized as follows: a The development of early childhood teachers‘ pedagogical knowledge PK , content knowledge CK and pedagogical content knowledge PCK were the best among the seven knowledge sub domains in TPACK. b The number of years of teaching experience was significantly positively correlated with early childhood teachers‘ pedagogical knowledge PK , content knowledge CK and pedagogical content knowledge PCK . Besides, early childhood teachers with over ten years of teaching experience had better self-assessed pedagogical knowledge PK , content knowledge CK and pedagogical content knowledge PCK than those teachers with less than ten years of teaching experience. c A significant positive correlation was found between pedagogical knowledge PK , and pedagogical content knowledge PCK and age; however, a significant negative correlation existed with technology knowledge TK and age. Older early childhood teachers‘ self-assessed pedagogical knowledge PK was better than younger teachers while the young early childhood teachers had a better self-assessed technology knowledge TK d Early childhood teachers with a frequency of using information technology above 20 hours a week had better self-assessed technology knowledge TK and technological content knowledge TCK than those with a frequency under 5 hours a week Recommendations were also provided based on the findings from this study

Keywords

Teacher education, Early childhood teachers, Technological pedagogical content knowledge TPACK

References

• Albion, P., Jamieson-Proctor, R., & Finger, G. (2010). Auditing the TPACK confidence of Australian pre-service teachers: The TPACK confidence survey (TCS). In D. Gibson & B. Dodge (Eds.), Proceedings of Society for Information Technology & Teacher Education International Conference 2010 (pp. 3772-3779). Chesapeake, VA: AACE.
• Anderson, J. (1999). Responses to technological change. In Keeves J and Majoribanks K (Eds.) , Australian Education: Review of Research(pp. 1965–1998). Australian Council for Educational Research, Melbourne.
• Angeli, C., & Valanides, N. (2009). Epistemological and methodological issues for the conceptualization, development, and assessment of ICT–TPCK: Advances in technological pedagogical content knowledge (TPCK). Computers & Education 52, 154–168.
• Archambault, L., & Crippen, K. (2009). Examining TPACK among K-12 online distance educators in the United States. Contemporary Issues in Technology and Teacher Education, 9(1), 71-88.
• Bers, M., Ponte, I., Juelich, C., Viera, A., & Schenker, J. (2002). Teachers as designers: Integrating robotics in early childhood education. Information Technology in Childhood Education Annual, 2002(1), 123-145.
• Clements D., & Nastasi B (1993). Electronic media and early childhood education. In Spodek B (Ed.), Handbook of research on the education of young children (pp. 251 – 275). Macmillan, New York.
• Clements, D. (1999). Young children and technology. In Dialogue on Early Childhood Science, Mathematics, and Technology Education. Washington, DC: American Association for the Advancement of Science. http://www.project2061.org/newsinfo/earlychild/experience/clements.ht m April 3, 2002, from
• Clements, D. H. (2002). Computers in early childhood mathematics. Contemporary Issues in Early Childhood, 3(2), 160-181.
• Clements, D.H., & Sarama, J. (2003). Strip mining for gold: Research and policy in educational technology—A response to ―Fool‘s Gold.‖ Educational Technology Review, 11(1), 7-69.
• Cohen, J. (1988). Statistical power analysis for the behavioral science (2nd ed.). Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.
• Cuban, L. (2001). Oversold and underused: Computers in the classroom. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
• Galen, F. H. J. V., & Buter, A. (2000). Computer tasks and classroom discussions in mathematics. Paper presented at the International Congress on Mathematics Education (ICME-9), Tokyo/Makuhari, Japan.
• Graham, C. R., Burgoyne, N., Cantrell, P., Smith, L., St. Clair, L., & Harris, R. (2009). Measuring the TPACK confidence of inservice science teachers. Techtrends, 53(5), 70-79.
• Graham, C., Cox, S., & Velasquez, A. (2009). Teaching and measuring TPACK development in two preservice teacher preparation programs. Paper presented at the Society for Information Technology and Teacher Education International Conference 2009, Charleston, SC, USA.
• Hammond, T. C., & Manfra, M. M. (2009). Giving, prompting, making: Aligning technology and pedagogy within TPACK for social studies instruction. Contemporary Issues in Technology and Teacher Education [Online http://www.citejournal.org/vol9/iss2/socialstudies/article1.cfm
• Hamre, B. K., & Pianta, R. C. (2005). Can instructional and emotional support in the first-grade classroom make a difference for children at risk of school failure? Child Development, 76(5), 949-967.
• Harris, J., Grandgenett, N., & Hofer, M. (2010). Testing a TPACK-based technology integration assessment rubric. In D. Gibson & B. Dodge (Eds.), Proceedings of Society for Information Technology & Teacher Education International Conference 2010 (pp. 3833-3840). Chesapeake, VA: AACE.
• Heft, T. M., & Swaminathan, S. (2002). The effects of computers on the social behavior of preschoolers. Journal of Research in Childhood Education, 16(2), 162-174.
• Kelly, K. L., & Schorger, J. R. (2001). ―Let‘s play ‗puters‖: Expressive language use at the computer center. Information Technology in Childhood Education Annual, 2001(1), 125-138.
• Koehler, M. J., & Mishra, P. (2008). Introducing TPCK. In AACTE committee on innovation and technology. Handbook of technological pedagogical content knowledge (TPCK) for educators (pp. 3–29). New York: Routledge.
• Koehler, M.J., Mishra, P., & Yahya, K. (2007). Tracing the development of teacher knowledge in a design seminar: Integrating content, pedagogy, & technology. Computers & Education, 49(3), 740-762.
• Lavin, R., & Sanders, J. (1983). Longitudinal Evaluation of the C/A/I Computer Assisted Instruction Title 1 Project: 1979-82. Chelmsford, MA: Merrimack Education Center.
• Lee, M.-H., & Tsai, C.-C. (2010). Exploring teachers‘ perceived self efficacy and technological pedagogical content knowledge with respect to educational use of the World Wide Web. Instructional Science, 38(1), 1-21.
• McCarrick, K., & Li, X. (2007). Buried treasure: The impact of computer use on young children‘s social, cognitive, language development and motivation. Association for the Advancement of Computing In Education Journal, 15(1), 73-95.
• Mishra, P., & Koehler, M. J. (2006). Technological Pedagogical Content Knowledge: A new framework for teacher knowledge. Teachers College Record. 108(6), 1017-1054
• Moursund, D., & Bielefeldt, T. (1999). Will new teachers be prepared to teach in a digital age? A national survey on information technology in teacher education. Beverly Hills, CA: Milken Family Foundation.
• NAEYC (1996). NAEYC Position statement: technology and young children. Young Children, 51(6), 11–16.
• NCES (2002). U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics. Internet Access in U.S. Public Schools and Classrooms: 1994–2001, NCES 2002-018, by Anne Kleiner and Elizabeth Farris. Project Officer: Bernard Greene. Washington, DC: 2002.
• Niess, M. L. (2005). Preparing teachers to teach science and mathematics with technology: Developing a technology pedagogical content knowledge. Teaching and Teacher Education, 21(5), 509-523.
• Niess, M. L. (2006). Guest Editorial: Preparing teachers to teach mathematics with technology. Contemporary Issues in Technology and Teacher Education, 6(2), 195-203
• OECD (2006). Are students ready for a technology-rich world? What PISA studies tell us. OECD: Paris.
• Prenksy, M. (2001a). Digital Natives, Digital Immigrants. On the Horizon, 9(5). Retrieved http://www.marcprensky.com/writing/Prensky%20-%20Digital%20Nati ves,%20Digital%20Immigrants%20-%20Part1.pdf from
• Prenksy, M. (2001b). Digital Natives, Digital Immigrants, Part II. Do they really think differently? On the Horizon, 9(6). Retrieved from http://www.marcprensky.com/writing/Prensky%20-%20Digital%20Nati ves,%20Digital%20Immigrants%20-%20Part2.pdf
• Romeo, G., Edwards, S., McNamara, S., Walker, I., & Ziguras, C. (2003). Touching the screen: Issues related to the use of touchscreen technology in early childhood education. British Journal of Educational Technology, 34(3), 329-339.
• Roschelle, J. M., Pea, R. D., Hoadley, C. M., Gordin, D. N., & Means, B. M. (2000). Changing how and what children learn in school with computer-based technologies. Children and Computer Technology, 10(2), 76-101.
• Russell, M., Bebell, D., O‘Dwyer, L.M., & O‘Connor, K.M. (2003). Examining teacher technology use: Implications for pre-service and in-service teacher preparation. Journal of Teacher Education, 54 (4), 297-310.
• Schmidt, D., Baran, E., Thompson, A., Mishra, P., Koehler, M. J., & Shin, T. (2009). Technological pedagogical content knowledge (TPACK): The development and validation of an assessment instrument for preservice teachers. Journal of Research on Technology in Education, 42(2), 123-149.
• Sefton-Green, J. (2006). Youth, technology, and media cultures. Review of Research in Education, 30, 279-306.
• Thompson, A. D., Chuang, H. H., & Sahin, I. (Eds.) (2007). Faculty mentoring: The power of students in developing technology expertise. Charlotte, NC: Information Age.
• Vandewater, E. A., Rideout, V. J., Wartella, E.A., Huang, X., Lee, J.H., & Shim, M.S. (2007). Digital childhood: Electronic media and technology use among infants, toddlers, and preschoolers. Pediatrics, 119(5), 1006-1015.