The integration of ICT in preservice teacher education: A pilot project at three teacher-training colleges in St. petersburg, moscow, and amsterdam

Abstract

The worldwide change toward an information society also affects developments in the Russian Federation. The Russian Ministry of Education, together with two universities for teacher education, wanted to explore how the educational beliefs and didactical repertoire of teacher trainers and prospective teachers need to be changed, and how information and communication technology (ICT) can facilitate these changes. In this realm the Russian-Dutch project, Innovative Didactics with ICT, has been set up (University of Twente and Herzen State Pedagogical University [UT/TO and HSPU], 1997). Innovative Didactics with ICT is a small-scale pilot project conducted with three faculties of physics in teacher training universities in St. Petersburg and Moscow (Russian Federation) and Amsterdam (Netherlands). The project runs from the fall semester of 1998 until the fall semester of 2000, and is part of the Russian-Dutch Cooperation in Education, a bilateral program of the two Ministries of Education. An important reason for using the physics faculties in the pilot project is the high standard of physics education in the Russian Federation on the one hand, and on the other, the low motivation of secondary school students to become physics teachers, also a major problem in the Netherlands. Therefore, it was thought, that ICT not only could change physics education but also make it more attractive as a long-term career prospect for students. The main aim of the project is the preparation of preservice physics students for teaching in an information society. Secondly, the project aims at the integration of ICT in physics teaching in secondary school. As part of the project, exemplary curriculum materials were prepared by the staff of the physics departments of the participating teacher education universities. These materials were required to be an integrated part of the student-teacher physics curriculum. Student-teachers taking part in the project are expected, as a result of the