TECHNO-PEDAGOGICAL CONTENT KNOWLEDGE OF UNDERGRADUATE PRESERVICE TEACHERS MAJORING IN BIOLOGY BASED ON THEIR DEMOGRAPHIC VARIABLES IN TANZANIA

Abstract

This study was designed to examine Techno-pedagogical Content Knowledge of Preservice Undergraduate Preservice Teachers based on their demographic Variables in Tanzania. Basically, the study investigated perceptions Sokoine University of Agriculture teacher students on their knowledge with regards to the integration of ICT in their instructional practices. Descriptive, comparative and correlational analyzes were carried out using SPSS version 23. The non-probabilistic sample consisted of 404 Preservice Undergraduate Preservice Teachers from the Sokoine University of Agriculture in Tanzania. A recently constructed TPACK tool by Paidican (2019) was used as a data collection instrument. The results show that preservice teachers had higher levels of pedagogical and content knowledge compared to technology knowledge. Female prospective teachers showed higher levels of knowledge in the Technological Knowledge, Pedagogical Knowledge and Content Knowledge subscales. In addition, a positive correlation between the variables studied was confirmed. The analysis of the results showed that the prospective teachers appear to believe that they have a good level of knowledge with regards to the TPACK domains, i.e., content, pedagogy and technology. However, most teachers perceived themselves as not able to integrate their TPACK knowledge in order to design and implement meaningful ICT-based interventions in their classroom. Statistically significant differences were also recorded in relation to teachers’ factors, i.e., sex, years in the University and their subjects in education.