Improving technological pedagogical content knowledge development among pre-service science teachers

Many teacher education programs provide pre-service teachers with a limited field experience during the professional block semester prior to student teaching. These programs require few hours in the classroom, mainly composed of observations. Many teacher education programs contain a technology-integration methods course that is not subject-specific and mainly focuses on the use of various technologies, in the absence of content and pedagogy.;The purpose of this EPP was to examine a Professional Development School (PDS) Program with respect to technology integration among pre-service science teachers. This examination set out to measure differences in pre-service teachers' Technological Pedagogical Content Knowledge (TPACK) before and after the first-semester internship in the program, and utilized various data collection instruments in the process. The primary instrument used was a survey which provided quantitative data for measuring changes in TPACK among the interns throughout the first-semester internship. A set of open-ended questions on the survey provided descriptive details concerning models of TPACK observed and co-taught by the interns. Additionally, a focus group and a PDS conference provided descriptive data concerning observed models of technology, the impact of a subject-specific technology integration course, comparisons between the PDS and traditional teacher education programs, and insight into the comfort and success levels with using technology in the science classroom.;The survey responses, the focus group responses, and the PDS conference data all suggested that the increased time requirement, in conjunction with the required technology integration course, and the mentorship provided by a co-teaching model led to exposure to valuable models of technology, an increase in self-assessed TPACK, and a feeling of increased confidence as reported by the interns during the first-semester internship of the PDS Program.