Research On The Development Of Teachers' Knowledge Integrated With Information Technology

The in-depth integration of Information Technology (IT) and education is the fundamental appeal of educational informationization. Teachers need to adapt themselves to the transformation of IT-based instruction, which has been a significant issue on contemporary teachers' professional development. However, knowledge of IT itself is not a cure-all medicine for changing instruction and solving problems. Teachers are required to have professional knowledge combined with technology, so as to apply technology into subjects teaching actively, flexibly and effectively, and to improve instructional effect and students'learning results. To possess technological pedagogical and content knowledge (TPACK) is the very key way out when teachers encounter the requirement and challenges from IT-based instruction. What does TPACK mean? How to facilitate teachers' growth of TPACK? It makes sense to reply these questions not only from the perspective of theoretical study, but also from the stance of teachers' practical status. In this way the development path of teachers knowledge integrated with technology can be explored.With the thesis of teachers' knowledge integrated with technology, this paper sets out to explore the following issues:What does the internal connection between technologies and teachers look like in historical evolution? How to explain the connotation of teachers' knowledge integrated with technology? What is the present status of primary and middle school teachers'carrying out IT-based teaching? What is the mechanism of TPACK formation and development? How should teacher education curriculum response to the need of TPACK growth? Besides the instruction section, the paper falls into four parts:Part one, as Chapter one shows, is about the historical investigation on the connection between technologies' evolution and teachers' growth. In all ages, technologies are always the important impetus of education's changes and teachers' advances. We divide human's history into four eras, which are verbal and written language era, printing technology era, mechanism and electronics era, and informational technology era. The impact of technologies creation on teachers' development in each era is explored and then, the internal relationship between technologies and teachers is reflected and summarized.The second part, as Chapter two shows, is about theoretical study on the combination of information technology and teachers'knowledge. There has been a narrow-minded view on teachers' professional development in the context of information, that is, to see technology as a particular knowledge or skill and to cultivate it separately. This part sets out to explore theatrically on teachers' knowledge combined with technology, which is a new try to clarifying the newly idea of teacher knowledge facing the need of informationization. Through analyzing the domestic and abroad literature and providing living examples, we explain the rich connotation of the technological pedagogical and content knowledge. An overall interpretation on the newly teacher knowledge of TPACK is made on the aspects of theoretical origin, structure and components, educational implication and representation forms. Thus the developmental orientation of TPACK is settled throughout the whole study.Chapter three and four constitute part three, which conducts an empirical study on teachers' knowledge integrated with technology. To understand teachers' factual knowledge status is a prerequisite to study the development of teachers' knowledge. In chapter three, through a questionnaire survey on a local primary and middle school teachers, a quantitative research is done to investigate the teachers' TPACK present status, then some underlying troubles are disclosed and the countermeasures are proposed. In chapter four, via the cases studies on three teachers, a qualitative study on TPACK is carried out. We adopt several study methods like in-depth interview, diary analysis, classroom or video observation, and teaching plan, and go deep into teachers' teaching practice of IT-based. Then each teacher's TPACK on aspects of growth experience, present status and developmental impetus are traced and displayed in a manner of narrative study. These two chapters offer realistic bases for the following teachers' development study.The fourth part includes chapter five and six, which explores the developmental mechanism and cultivation of teachers' knowledge integrated with technology. Teachers'knowledge and teachers' learning are the two sides of one coin. The process of a teacher's learning technology deeply, is the very process of his or her TPACK's growing.In chapter five, from three dimensions of cognition, sociality and emergency, we explain the general process of a teacher's technology learning and TPACK growing, and then discuss three concrete paths of promoting TPACK growth, which respectively are professional learning, peer-coaching and self-directed development. Chapter six sets out to the transformation of teacher educational program to give a pertinent concern on how to cultivate TPACK. We focus on the top-level design, curriculum content and instruction model of teacher educational program. By reference to several typical examples of foreign teachers training projects, we propose relevant advices and strategies on teacher educational program of our own country.