Teacher Professional Development Through a Collaborative Curriculum Project – an Example of TPACK in Maine

Abstract

Maine's one-to-one laptop program provides an ideal opportunity to explore conditions that optimize teacher integration of technology-focused curriculum into the classroom. EcoSci-enceWorks (ESW) is an ecology curriculum that includes targeted simulations and a code block programming challenge developed through an NSF-ITEST grant. The project was designed as a collaboration that included simulation software developers; middle school science teachers; the Maine laptop program; environmental educators; an external evaluator; and a lead organization experienced in teacher guided curriculum development. Thus, each of the elements of TPACK (technology, pedagogy, and content knowledge) worked together to produce the final ecology simulation-centered curriculum. In 2008-2009, the ESW curriculum became available statewide through the Maine laptop program. Partner teachers have transitioned their classrooms to more learning-centered environments through the use of technology and have become teacher leaders. The collaborative approach to technology focused curriculum development used in this project is a model for TPACK professional development.

Designing and evaluating a professional development programme for basic technology integration in English as a foreign language (EFL) classrooms

“…The results of this study suggest that the TPACK professional development programme was successful, as indicated by the improvement of the lecturers' TPCK and their positive experiences. This study confirmed the findings of previous studies (e.g., Allan et al, 2010;Blocher et al, 2011;Doering et al, 2009;Jimoyiannis et al, 2011;Tee & Lee, 2011). It can also be argued that the learning technology-by-design approach adopted in the programme could help lecturers develop TPCK in their English language teaching practices.…”

“…Those characteristics include participants' active involvement in the programme (Blocher, Armfield, Sujo-Montes, Tucker, & Willis, 2011;Jimoyiannis, Tsiotakis, & Roussinos, 2011), providing participants with authentic learning experiences (Doering, Veletsianos, Scharber, & Miller, 2009;Jimoyiannis, 2010;Tee & Lee, 2011), collaboration among participants (Allan, Erickson, Brookhouse, & Johnson, 2010;Jimoyiannis et al, 2011), providing guidance and support to participants when needed (Blocher et al, 2011;Doering et al, 2009;Guzey & Roehrig, 2009;Oster-Levinz & Klieger, 2010;Trautmann & MaKinster, 2010), having curriculum coherency with the programme (Nicholas & Ng, 2012), reflecting on what has been done (Allan et al, 2010;Guzey & Roehrig, 2009;Harris & Hofer, 2011;Jimoyiannis, 2010;Tee & Lee, 2011), giving feedback on participants' works (Jimoyiannis, 2010;Niess, Zee, & Gillow-Wiles, 2010), providing intensive training (Trautmann & MaKinster, 2010), and having sufficient time for participants to learn and practice (Jimoyiannis, 2010;Nicholas & Ng, 2012;Oster-Levinz & Klieger, 2010).…”

Lære å lage og bruke datasimuleringer i naturfagundervisning

“…Added value is found in combining simulations with physical laboratory experiments and hands-on activities (Allan et al, 2010;de Jong et al, 2013). Science topics can thus provide authentic and meaningful contexts to practise CT (Weintrop et al, 2016), and a successful strategy is to contextualise the computing tasks by relating them to real-world experiences (Sentance & Csizmadia, 2017).…”

Examining changes in teachers’ perceptions of external and internal barriers in their integration of educational digital resources in K-12 classrooms

“…Additionally, identifying the growers and utilizing them in professional development efforts targeted at their content areas could be a powerful way to bring other teachers onboard. Research on the development of teachers' knowledge and abilities to teach their content with technology suggests that strategies such as modeling, collaborative curriculum planning, and coaching can be drivers of improvement (Allan et al, 2010;Doering et al, 2014;Kafyulilo et al, 2015).…”