TPACK, Journal Summary 4

Mohamed Elfatih I. Mustafa (2016)

Faculty of Education, University of Ottawa, Canada

The Impact of 5E Learning Cycle on Developing Science Teachers Technological, Pedagogical and Content Knowledge (TPACK)

Mustafa (2016) in his journal entitled The Impact of 5E Learning Cycle on Developing Science Teachers Technological, Pedagogical and Content Knowledge (TPACK) stated that in this technological era, science teachers are suggested to develop a classroom instruction that taker advantage of the abilities of technology in enhancing science learning, thus the teachers also asked to develop an understanding of the pedagogical and content uses of technology. But in contrast, this vision is not fully emphasized in educational technology training. The main goal of the training program is to train science teachers how to use different technology in classroom without followed by how to align technology with curriculum objectives, pedagogical goals or science content. Based on the problem, this study aimed to the literature and investigated the effectiveness of Experiencing Inquiry Model (EIM) in developing science teachers’ TPACK.

This study using TPACK frameworks and adopting Experiencing Inquiry Model (EIM) as strategy to explicitly guide teachers to experience inquiry as a model for teaching and learning of science (Windchit, 2008). The main purpose of this strategy is to give a chance for science teachers to conduct an inquiry before implementing it in the classroom. EIM provides the teachers with direct guidance in understanding how students might learn a particular content area through inquiry. Meanwhile, inspired by Piaget, 5E learning cycle focused on the construction of knowledge and Vygotskian notion of scaffolded learning. It consist of 5 systematical phases guidance aimed to engaging learners thinking in inquiry process. The phases are: Engage, Explore, Elaborate, Evaluated and Experience. PhET circuit kit simulation is used as a device in order to help the teachers constructing simple circuits with millennium technical issues or hazard associated with the electrical wiring.

To collecting the data, the author involving 17 science teachers from 2 schools (10 female and 7 male) using mixed method of qualitative and quantitative evidence. The quantitative instruments were pre- and post-Pathfinder Network Scaling Technology Integration Assessment Rubric (TIAR) and demographic questionnaire. The qualitative instrument included participants written documents, the researchers logbook and focus group interviews. As the result, it can be concluded that there were significant developments in the participants’ knowledge components embodied in TPACK. Nevertheless, the TIAR analysis suggested that the participants’ designs lacked connecting curriculum goals with technology, and compatibility with curriculum goals and instruction. In Qualitative, the vast majority of participants (13 participants) acknowledge the opportunities offered by 5E not only learning science content, but also to explore guiding method that were used to facilitate the inquiry learning. The study also suggested that science teachers should be given amble time to develop TPACK within their instructional contexts.