A Comparative Study Of TPACK Status Of Mathematics Teachers In Urban And Rural Junior High Schools

Nowadays, with the rapid development of information technology, teaching activities obviously incorporate technology into it. Excellent teachers need to combine technology with the subject organically and learn how to use the great advantage of technology to design and develop teaching process.In order to describe and study the teachers’ tech-related knowledge, American scholars Matthew Koehler and Punya Mishra had put forward the concept-Technology Pedagogy and Content Knowledge (TPACK) in 2005, and soon this view became a hot topic within the field of international teacher education and educational technology, which attracted scholars making further study on the TPACK. The TPACK framework includes three kinds of core knowledge:Content Knowledge (CK), Pedagogy Knowledge (PK) and Technology Knowledge (TK) as well as four compound knowledge (PCK, TCK, TPK, TPACK) which made up of the core knowledge above.TPACK is the basis of the teacher specialization in the information age, and it largely determines teachers’ professional ability. Teachers’ TPACK also exists a certain differences between urban and rural areas in the level of education environment, education technology and teaching standards. This research is focused on TPACK to summarize and analyze the related literature at home and abroad using methods of literature review and questionnaire survey. Based on the framework, the questionnaire was conducted to interview and compare the mathematics teachers using condition of TPACK between junior high school in the urban and rural area. Besides, the factors influencing mathematics teachers using TPACK have also been explored. The research hopes to provide reference to training courses for teachers, and strike balance of the education development between urban and rural areas.This research mainly got the following conclusions:(1)From an overall perspective, with the significant differences, the average TPACK score of urban teachers are obviously higher than those of rural teachers.The levels of tech-related knowledge are higher than those of non-tech-related knowledge in urban and rural teachers.(2)The difference in gender within urban and rural teachers doesn’t cause difference in TPACK level. However, both urban and rural teachers with differences in teacher seniority, professional titles do have significant differences in their TPACK level. Urban teachers with differences in education background shows significant differences in their TPACK level, but rural teachers don’t have it.(3)The most commonly used technologies by mathematics teachers of urban and rural junior high school are Power Point, The Geometer Sketchpad as well as Office software. Those methods mainly used when teachers need to display dynamic process, or the classroom’s capacitance is great, and they learn function image and properties.(4)Due to lack of time and unskilled of using technology, most of urban teachers avoid to use technology. However, most of the rural teachers are due to the poor equipment in schools, and they are not be able to use technology.Finally, according to the conclusions and analysis above, some suggestions for teachers’ self-development are put forward. Teachers should strengthen knowledge learning and practice with continuously rethinking efforts, and form the teaching relief by renewing educational principles. The writer also make suggestions for the TPACK development of mathematics teachers and training courses to explore feasible methods and strategies, which will be the basis for education balance between rural and urban areas, development of network teaching resources platform as well as professional development for teachers.