Modeling Meaningful Chemistry Teacher Education Online: Reflections from Chemistry Preservice Teacher Educators in Australia

Abstract

As the World Health Organization declared COVID-19 a global pandemic in March 2020, universities around the world reacted quickly by shifting classes online. To varying extents, this rapid change required chemistry teacher educators to rethink and redesign their units and delivery. Some teacher educators may have perceived this shift as a timely opportunity to reflect on their technological pedagogical content knowledge (TPACK) and on how to model TPACK through chemistry preservice teacher education classes. This paper presents reflections from three chemistry teacher educators from different universities in Victoria, Australia. The reflections are offered in the form of vignettes that illustrate how these teacher educators modeled the use of digital technologies to meaningfully support preservice teachers’ learning in chemistry education. After the teachers independently wrote the vignettes, they were analyzed for common themes which have been used to develop recommendations for other chemistry teacher educators who may also find themselves reflecting on their TPACK as they support preservice teachers in an online environment.