Editorials

English/Language Arts Education

Fight the Dragons: Using Online Discussion to Promote Critical Literacy in Teacher Education 

by Christine Woodcock
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Today’s children are bombarded by a range of media, and it is the responsibility of teachers to equip students to engage critically.  Just as teachers are responsible to teach critical literacy, teacher educators must help empower teachers to become more critically literate. This paper explores the role of online discussion in the ways it fosters critical literacy by analyzing the online discourse of the teachers in an online literature course.  Implications relating to both the online nature of teaching and the various strategies to foster critical literacy in everyday classrooms are described.

Mathematics Education

Mathematics Teachers’ Development, Exploration, and Advancement of Technological Pedagogical Content Knowledge in the Teaching and Learning of Algebra

by Sandra Richardson
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This article describes experiences from a professional development project designed to prepare in-service eighth-grade mathematics teachers to develop, explore, and advance technological pedagogical content knowledge (TPCK) in the teaching and learning of Algebra I. This article describes the process of the participating teachers’ mathematical activities and teaching and learning tasks, each of which required a TPCK framework. Sessions were organized to transform content through strategies that integrate technology with the teachers’ content and pedagogical knowledge. Content of the professional development sessions ranged from analyzing algebraic learning activities to examining appropriate uses of technology in the teaching and learning of algebra. Teachers participated in 60 hours of summer sessions and 60 hours of academic year sessions. Results revealed the need to provide teachers with opportunities to develop and explore an integration of technological, pedagogical, and content knowledge in the teaching and learning of algebra.

Science Education

Preservice Biology Teachers’ Use of Interactive Display Systems to Support Reforms-Based Science Instruction

by Christine G. Schnittka & Randy L. Bell
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The purpose of this study was to explore preservice science teachers’ use of an interactive display system (IDS), consisting of a computer, digital projector, interactive white board, and Internet connection, to support science teaching and learning.  Participants included 9 preservice biology teachers enrolled in a master of teaching program during their full-time student teaching experience. Each participant had access to an IDS for the duration of the investigation. The research questions guiding the investigation included (a) whether teachers would use the IDS for instructional purposes, (b) what form this instruction would take, and (c) whether the instruction would reflect the recommendations of current science education reform documents. Analytic induction was used to analyze the wide variety of collected data, including classroom observation notes, entrance and exit interviews, lesson plans, and reflective essays. Results indicated that student teachers used the IDS in substantial ways to facilitate teaching reforms-based science. Furthermore, the results support the use of explicit approaches to preparing preservice teachers to use educational technology for inquiry instruction, modeling of effective uses of digital images and video clips, and specific instruction on whole-class inquiry methods.

Social Studies Education

Giving, Prompting, Making: Aligning Technology and Pedagogy Within TPACK for Social Studies Instruction

by Thomas C. Hammond & Meghan McGlinn Manfra
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Technological pedagogical content knowledge (now known as technology, pedagogy, and content knowledge, or TPACK) has become a widely referenced conceptual framework within teacher education. It provides a common language to discuss the integration of technology into instruction (Koehler & Mishra, 2008) and builds upon the concepts of pedagogical content knowledge (Shulman, 1987) and teacher as curricular “gatekeeper” (Thornton, 2001a, 2001b). This paper describes a three-part pedagogical model—giving-prompting-making—to explicate the relationship between pedagogy and technology within the social studies classroom. This model is intended to enhance the TPACK framework by providing a clear and intuitive comparison between social studies teachers’ pedagogical aims and their choices with technology. The giving-prompting-making model can be used to guide social studies teacher education students to make the most appropriate use of technology.

General

Enhancing TPACK With Assistive Technology: Promoting Inclusive Practices in Preservice Teacher Education

by Matthew T. Marino, Pauline Sameshima & Constance C. Beecher
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As the global community continues the transition from an industrialized factory model to an information and now participatory networked-based society, educational technology will play a pivotal role in preparing students for their futures. Many teacher preparation programs are failing to provide preservice teachers with the knowledge, skills, and dispositions necessary to adopt and utilize technology effectively. This paper presents an enhanced technology, pedagogy, and content knowledge (TPACK) model that adds assistive technology as a means to promote inclusive educational practice for preservice teachers. This model offers substantive promise for improving learning outcomes for students with disabilities and other traditionally marginalized populations who receive the majority of their classroom instruction in general education settings. This paper extends the TPACK model by providing specific examples of how assistive technology and instructional technology are distinct yet overlapping constructs. Essential technology skills for preservice teachers and strategies supporting inclusive educational practice are identified.

Current Practice

Ten Ways to Incorporate Technology Into a TESOL Teacher Preparation Program

by Andrea Honigsfeld, Vicky Giouroukakis, Audrey Cohan & Maureen Walsh
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A comprehensive approach for integrating technology into a TESOL teacher preparation program is described. Ten specific ways to assure constructivist technology use in teacher education are highlighted. These techniques have been synthesized into a compact model with three pillars: (a) electronic assessment system (e-portfolios for individual assessment and program evaluation), (b) teacher candidates’ technology-based course assignments and performances, and (c) Web-based instruction and communication. The authors claim that within this three-pronged model flexibility of implementation is key to success for preservice and in-service teachers.