Prospective Mathematics Teachers’ Technological Pedagogical Content Knowledge Improvement via Creating Technology-Based Mathematics Stories

Year 2020, Volume: 7 Issue: 3, 209 - 222, 12.09.2020

Nilgün Günbaş

Abstract

In an attempt to improve Technological Pedagogical Content Knowledge (TPACK), prospective
mathematics teachers (N=52) were trained in creating technology-based mathematics teaching
materials. They learned visual programming, worked in pairs and created mathematics stories,
which are intended to improve fourth grade students’ mathematics word problem solving. Six of the
prospective teachers were willingly participated in this study and watched students completing the
stories in actual classroom environments. The purpose was to show them the value of their work and
provide advice with regard to improve their TPACK. They (n=6) were interviewed within a
qualitative research framework. This study reveals the prospective teachers´ opinions and beliefs
regarding various aspects of the projects, such as students´ interest, students´ performance, as well
as the teachers´ professional, pedagogical and individual improvement. The prospective teachers are
convinced that teaching by means of technology support students’ learning and that technology use
in the classrooms is valuable. As a result, it can be confirmed that the process helped them improve
their TPACK.

Keywords

Teacher education, visual programming, TPACK, mathematics stories, technology training

References

• Agyei, D. D., & Voogt, J. M. (2011). Exploring the potential of the will, skill, tool model in Ghana: Predicting prospective and practicing teachers’ use of technology. Computers & Education, 56(1), 91-100.
• Cheng, S. L., & Xie, K. (2018). The relations among teacher value beliefs, personal characteristics, and TPACK in intervention and non-intervention settings. Teaching and Teacher Education, 74, 98-113.
• Ertmer, P. A., Ottenbreit-Leftwich, A. T., Sadik, O., Sendurur, E., & Sendurur, P. (2012). Teacher beliefs and technology integration practices: A critical relationship. Computers & Education, 59(2), 423-435.
• Han, B., Bae, Y. & Park, J. (2016). The effects of mathematics achievement variables on scratch programming activities of elementary school students. International Journal of Software Engineering and Its Applications, 10(12), pp. 21-30.
• Hoffmann, M. M., & Ramirez, A. Y. (2018). Students' Attitudes toward Teacher Use of Technology in Classrooms. Multicultural Education, 25(2), 51-56.
• Instefjord, E. J.,& Munthe, E. (2017). Educating digitally competent teachers: A study of integration of professional digital competence in teacher education. Teaching and Teacher Education, 67, pp. 37-45. doi:10.1016/j.tate.2017.05.016
• International Society for Technology in Education. (2008). The ISTE National Educational Technology Standards (NETS-T) and performance indicators for teachers. Retrieved from: https://www.iste.org/docs/pdfs/20-14_ISTE_Standards-T_PDF.pdf
• Kaleli Yılmaz, G. (2012). Matematik öğretiminde bilgisayar teknolojisinin kullanımına yönelik tasarlanan HİE kursunun etkililiğinin incelenmesi: Bayburt ili örneği. (Doctoral dissertation). Retrieved from https://tez.yok.gov.tr/UlusalTezMerkezi/ (Order No. 321892).
• Kalelioglu, F. & Gülbahar, Y. (2014). The effects of teaching programming via Scratch on problem solving skills: a discussion from learners' perspective. Informatics in Education, 13(1), pp. 33-50.
• Koehler, M. & Mishra, P. (2009). What is technological pedagogical content knowledge (TPACK)?. Contemporary Issues In Technology and Teacher Education, 9(1), pp. 60-70. https://www.jstor.org/stable/24636917
• Kopcha, T. J. (2012). Teachers' perceptions of the barriers to technology integration and practices with technology under situated professional development. Computers & Education, 59(4), pp. 1109-1121. doi:10.1016/j.compedu.2012.05.014
• Law, N., Pelgrum, W. J., & Plomp, T. (Eds.). (2008). Pedagogy and ICT use in schools around the world: Findings from the IEA SITES 2006 study (Vol. 23). Springer Science & Business Media.
• Liu, Y. & Szabo, Z. (2009) Teachers’ attitudes toward technology integration in schools: a four-year study, Teachers and Teaching: Theory and Practice, 15(1), 5-23.
• Maloney, J., Resnick, M., Rusk, N., Silverman, B. & Eastmond, E. (2010). The scratch programming language and environment. ACM Transactions on Computing Education (TOCE), 10(4), pp. 1-15. doi:10.1145/1868358.1868363
• Marcelino, M. J., Pessoa, T., Vieria, C., Salvador, T. & Mendes, A.J. (2018). Learning Computational Thinking and scratch at distance. Computers in Human Behavior. 80, pp. 470-477. doi:10.1016/j.chb.2017.09.025
• Mertala, P. (2017). Wag the dog–The nature and foundations of preschool educators' positive ICT pedagogical beliefs. Computers in Human Behavior, 69, pp. 197-206. doi:/10.1016/j.chb.2016.12.037
• Miranda, H. P., & Russell, M. (2012). Understanding factors associated with teacher-directed student use of technology in elementary classrooms: A structural equation modeling approach. British Journal of Educational Technology, 43(4), 652-666. doi:10.1111/j.1467-8535.2011.01228.x
• National Council of Teachers of Mathematics. (2008). The role of technology in the teaching and learning of mathematics. NCTM News Bulletin, 44(9), pp. 1-12.
• Niess, M. L. (2011). Investigating TPACK: Knowledge growth in teaching with technology. Journal of Educational Computing Research, 44(3), pp. 299-317. doi:10.2190/EC.44.3.c
• Niess, M. L., Ronau, R. N., Shafer, K. G., Driskell, S. O., Harper, S. R., Johnston, C. & Kersaint, G. (2009). Mathematics teacher TPACK standards and development model. Contemporary Issues in Technology and Teacher Education, 9(1), pp. 4-24.
• Nikou, S. A., & Economides, A. A. (2014). Transition in student motivation during a scratch and an app inventor course. In Global Engineering Education Conference (EDUCON), 2014 IEEE, 1042-1045.
• Ottenbreit-Leftwich, A. T., Glazewski, K. D., Newby, T. J., & Ertmer, P. A. (2010). Teacher value beliefs associated with using technology: Addressing professional and student needs. Computers & education, 55(3), 1321-1335.
• Ouahbi, I., Kaddari, F., Darhmaoui, H., Elachqar, A. & Lahmine, S. (2015). Learning basic programming concepts by creating games with scratch programming environment. Procedia-Social and Behavioral Sciences, 191, pp. 1479-1482. doi:10.1016/j.sbspro.2015.04.224
• Petko, D. (2012). Teachers’ pedagogical beliefs and their use of digital media in classrooms: Sharpening the focus of the ‘will, skill, tool’ model and integrating teachers’ constructivist orientations. Computers & Education, 58(4), pp. 1351-1359. doi:10.1016/j.compedu.2011.12.013
• Pinto, A. & Escudeiro, P. (2014). The use of Scratch for the development of 21st century learning skills in ICT. In Information Systems and Technologies (CISTI), 2014 9th Iberian Conference on IEEE, pp. 1-4.
• Rakes, G. C., Fields, V. S., & Cox, K. E. (2006). The influence of teachers’ technology use on instructional practices. Journal of Research on Technology in Education, 38(4), 409-424.
• Rehmat, A. P., & Bailey, J. M. (2014). Technology integration in a science classroom: Preservice teachers’ perceptions. Journal of Science Education and Technology, 23(6), 744-755.
• Resnick, M., Maloney, J., Monroy-Hernández, A., Rusk, N., Eastmond, E., Brennan, K., Millner, A., Rosenbaum, E., Silver, J., Silverman, B. and Kafai, Y. (2009). Scratch: programming for all. Communications of the ACM, 52(11), pp. 60-67. doi:10.1145/1592761.1592779
• Sjølie, E. (2014). The role of theory in teacher education: Reconsidered from a student teacher perspective. Journal of Curriculum Studies, 46(6), pp. 729-750. doi:10.1080/00220272.2013.871754
• Tanak, A. (2018). Designing TPACK-based course for preparing student teachers to teach science with technological pedagogical content knowledge. Kasetsart Journal of Social Sciences. 1-7.
• Thomas, L. G. & Knezek, D. G. (2008). Information, communications, and educational technology standards for students, teachers, and school leaders. International Handbook of Information Technology in Primary and Secondary Education, pp. 333-348. doi:10.1007/978-0-387-73315-9_20
• U.S. Department of Education, Office of Educational Technology (2017) https://tech.ed.gov/netp/teaching/.
• Wang, H. Y., Huang, I. & Hwang, G. J. (2016). Comparison of the effects of project-based computer programming activities between mathematics-gifted students and average students. Journal of Computers in Education, 3(1), pp. 33-45. doi:10.1007/s40692-015-0047-9
• Yang, X., Ji, M., Zhang, J., Zhang, J., & Zhang, H. (2018, December). A study on the influencing factors of mathematics pre-service teacher's TPACK. In 2018 International Joint Conference on Information, Media and Engineering (ICIME) (pp. 168-171). IEEE.
• Yukselturk, E. & Altiok, S. (2017). An investigation of the effects of programming with Scratch on the preservice IT teachers’ self-efficacy perceptions and attitudes towards computer programming. British Journal of Educational Technology, 48(3), pp. 789-801. doi:10.1111/bjet.12453