This mixed-methods study examined the use of web-based portfolios for developing preservice teachers' reflective skills. Building on the work of previous research, the authors proposed a set of reflection-based tasks to enrich preservice teachers' internship experiences. Their purpose was to identify (a) whether preservice teachers demonstrated evidence of reflective thinking throughout a semester and, if so, the types of reflective thinking indicators; (b) whether there was an increase in the number of high-level reflective indicators over time; and (c) the role of the web-based portfolio construction, as perceived by the participants, in developing reflective skills. The findings suggested that preservice teachers demonstrated high-and low-level reflective skills throughout a semester. There was a statistically significant improvement in the number of high-level reflective indicators in the second reflection task compared with the first. In addition, the web-based platform was perceived by participants as a medium that enabled easy access and the development of better portfolio artifacts.

This study examines the use of a virtual internship (an epistemic game) for developing preservice teachers’ technological pedagogical content knowledge (TPACK). TPACK aims to capture the essential qualities of teacher knowledge that are needed for integrating technology into teaching. Virtual internships are computer-based professional practicum simulation games where participants assume the role of a professional, work collaboratively on authentic tasks, and engage in complex professional thinking. The online collaborative chat records of 33 preservice teachers who played the game over the course of 8 weeks were analysed using epistemic network analysis (ENA), which made it possible to examine the dynamic connections between various TPACK domains over time. The analysis showed that participants’ TPACK representations gradually became more complex in terms of the number of pedagogical considerations and the strength of connections between pedagogical considerations, technology, and content. Suggestions are made for designing learning environments that aim to develop preservice teachers’ TPACK.

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This mixed method study aimed to examine if, and then potentially how, the level of preservice teachers' metacognitive awareness (MA) influences their reflective thinking on their teaching practicum experiences in the context of web-based portfolio construction. Data sources included two sets of reflection task responses and a Likert-type metacognitive awareness inventory. Data from these sources were coded and analyzed using quantitative and qualitative methods. The total number of high-level reflective thinking indicators produced by the preservice teachers with high MA was notably higher than those generated by the preservice teachers with low MA. A Wilcoxon-Mann-Whitney test revealed a statistically significant difference between the scores of high-level reflective thinking indicators exhibited by the preservice teachers with high MA and low MA. In addition, a statistically significant moderate relationship was found between the participants' total MA scores and their high-level reflective thinking scores. Findings suggested that when the participants were good at managing the three metacognitive processing skills, namely monitoring, evaluation, and planning, they more frequently exhibited the high-level reflective thinking indicators.

The purpose of this study is to examine the role of Minecraft-based coding activities on computational thinking (CT) of middle school students. In the study, CT was conceptualized so that it encapsulates not only the knowledge of computational concepts (e.g., loops and conditionals) but also the use of CT practices (e.g., testing and debugging). Data were collected using a combination of knowledge of computational concepts tests, the Minecraft-based coding artifacts, and one-on-one student interviews focusing on the processes of developing computational artifacts. The participants were 20 fifth-grade middle school students from a low-income public school with very limited (if none) formal computer programming experiences before the study. The Minecraft-based coding activities were designed and implemented as an instructional program to last 6 weeks. The results of the study showed a statistically significant increase in students’ knowledge of computational concepts. Based on the analysis of the students’ final coding artifacts, we identified that students mostly used the concepts of sequences, events, loops, and parallelism correctly, whereas variables, operators, and conditionals appeared to be the least successfully used concepts. The qualitative analysis of the artifact-based interviews showed that students employed the CT practices of testing and debugging most of the time while developing an artifact through coding. In contrast, the least resorted CT practice appeared to be reusing and remixing.