Measuring the technological pedagogical content knowledge (TPACK) of in-service teachers of computer science who teach algorithms and programming in upper secondary education

TL;DR

This study assesses the TPACK levels of in-service secondary computer science teachers, revealing high content and technology knowledge but lower confidence in pedagogical and technological content knowledge.

Contribution

It provides a large-scale measurement of TPACK among secondary teachers, highlighting specific areas needing professional development.

Findings

Content and technology knowledge ratings are high.

Pedagogical content knowledge and technological content knowledge are comparatively lower.

Teachers show confidence in content and technology but less in pedagogical integration.

Abstract

Based on the Technological Pedagogical and Content Knowledge (TPACK) framework (Mishra & Koehler, 2006) and the Schmidt et al. (2009) instrument which explore TPACK, this study examines a national sample of 1032 secondary teachers of computer science and measures their knowledge with respect to technology, pedagogy, content knowledge and the combination of each of these areas. Findings indicate that content knowledge and technology knowledge rating are high (average 4.38 and 4.16 respectively) and it seems that secondary teachers are less confident with their pedagogical content knowledge and their technological content knowledge (average 3.51 and 3.68 respectively).