Elementary Education Teacher Candidates’ Integration of Technology in the Design of Interdisciplinary Units

Abstract

In this paper the authors evaluate 85 elementary education teacher candidates’ integration of technology into interdisciplinary units that the candidates wrote during the semester before their full-time student teaching internship. An inductive analysis of the units revealed that teachers used a wide variety of technologies with a large dependence on Internet-based technologies, interactive whiteboards, and iPad applications. Further analyses found that most of the technology uses were lower-level and focused on only basic skills. However, chi-squared tests for independence found statistically significant relationships between numerous factors and when technology was used in ways that addressed higher-order thinking skills. These factors included the structure of the lesson plans, the content of the interdisciplinary units, when the technology was integrated into the multi-lesson unit, and when the technology was integrated into specific phases of the lesson. Implications for teacher education programs and research that focuses on teacher candidates’ TPACK are provided.