Assessing the performance of Turkish science pre-service teachers in a TPACK-practical course

This study assesses the performance of Turkish science pre-service teachers (PSTs) in a TPACK-Practical Course that consists of the training course and lesson-plan-micro-teaching stages. The subjects of the study were 46 PSTs (19 males and 27 females). In this study, after PSTs took a TPACK training course, they created a TPACK-based lesson plan and presented it to their classmates through micro-teaching. Data sources included lesson plans and video recordings of lesson presentations. Researchers developed and used a rubric of TPACK-based learning environments to evaluate the data sources. The rubric consisted of 12 items, and each item contained five performance levels. Researchers analyzed the data by using descriptive statistics and the Wilcoxon signed-rank test. There was a significant increase in the total score of TPACK among the PSTs after the course. There was also a significant increase in the items guiding, providing active participations of students, making assessment and evaluation, appropriateness of chosen teaching methods, and accuracy of the given information/concepts when teaching science subjects with technology. Possible reasons for this positive effect include using worksheets with technological tools such as simulation, the influence of the course lecturers as role models, the introduction of new technologies to the PSTs in the training course, and using class discussions to provide feedback.