Preschool Teachers' Beliefs and Pedagogical Practices in the Integration of Technology: A Case for Engaging Young Children in Scientific Inquiry

Autor/inn/en	Kewalramani, Sarika; Havu-Nuutinen, Sari
Titel	Preschool Teachers' Beliefs and Pedagogical Practices in the Integration of Technology: A Case for Engaging Young Children in Scientific Inquiry
Quelle	In: EURASIA Journal of Mathematics, Science and Technology Education, 15 (2019) 12, (13 Seiten)Infoseite zur Zeitschrift PDF als Volltext kostenfreie Datei Verfügbarkeit
Sprache	englisch
Dokumenttyp	gedruckt; online; Zeitschriftenaufsatz
ISSN	1305-8223
Schlagwörter	Preschool Teachers; Beliefs; Technology Integration; Preschool Children; Learner Engagement; Active Learning; Inquiry; Technological Literacy; Pedagogical Content Knowledge; Foreign Countries; Affordances; Barriers; Preschool Education; Science Instruction; Hands on Science; Handheld Devices; Robotics; Australia + Suchen Sie Ihr Suchwort? Pre-school education; Preschool education; Erzieher; Erzieherin; Kindergärtnerin; Vorschulerziehung; Vorschule; Belief; Glaube; Pre-school age; Preschool age; Child; Children; Vorschulalter; Kind; Kinder; Vorschulkind; Vorschulkinder; Aktives Lernen; Technisches Wissen; Pädagogische Kompetenz; Ausland; Teaching of science; Science education; Natural sciences Lessons; Naturwissenschaftlicher Unterricht; Robotertechnik; Australien
Abstract	This paper presents findings from an on-going international study (Australia and Finland) of preschool teachers' beliefs and pedagogical practices in the integration of technology to engage young children in learning science. Scarcely used in early childhood education research, this study is framed using Mishra and Koehler's (2006) Technological Pedagogical and Content Knowledge (TPACK) theory. Case studies presented in this paper are undertaken with data collected from three preschools in Australia. Participant observation of teachers' (N = 7) and children's play experiences, and semi-structured interviews, revealed that teachers occasionally used iPads and some apps within their intentionally constructed science investigations, both for teacher-initiated research and for communicating with parents via children's journals. Teachers were not adverse to, but rather accepting of embedding technology as a pedagogical affordance and keen on planning for multimodal science-based experiences. The findings of this study imply the need for a pedagogical shift, wherein teachers' technological pedagogical knowledge improves in how and when to sensibly integrate technology for children's engagement in scientific inquiry, rather than relying on hands-on experiences alone. Implications lie in more closely aligning teachers' TPK and related practices with science content knowledge by co-researching together with children and foregrounding both teachers' and children's perspectives. (As Provided).
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Erfasst von	ERIC (Education Resources Information Center), Washington, DC
Update	2024/1/01