Creating Laboratories of Practice for Developing Preservice Elementary Teachers' TPACK

Abstract

This case study outlines the components and outcomes of a program-wide approach to transforming elementary pre-service teachers' technological pedagogical content knowledge (TPACK). The approach emphasized the creation of laboratories of practice in which pre-service teachers learned about and enacted technology for teaching and learning. Pre-service teachers developed TPACK through carefully designed and scaffolded learning experiences in technology and content methods coursework, internship experiences, and student teaching. The case offers descriptions and outcomes within a mathematics methods course and across eleven cohorts of student teachers. TPACK survey results at the beginning and end of one course of the program, and measures of TPACK-efficacy and frequency of technology integration at the end of the program indicate that the programmatic approach led to TPACK growth among pre-service teachers.