When Using Technology Isn'T Enough: A Comparison of High School Civics Teachers’ Tpck in One-To-One Laptop Environments

Abstract

In this multiple case study, the authors compare the instruction of two high school civics teachers during the 2012 Presidential Election. Both were highly-qualified practitioners who worked in schools with one-to-one laptop initiatives, creating an environment in which access to digital technology ceased to be an issue. Although both teachers regularly used technology in their classrooms, the authors describe stark differences in the complexity and authenticity of their instruction, which the authors attribute to the teachers’ technological pedagogical content knowledge (TPCK). The authors conclude by discussing implications for better understanding TPCK within civics instruction, specifically in classrooms with one-to-one laptop access.

Learning to Think Politically: Toward More Complete Disciplinary Knowledge in Civics and Government Courses

“…Standard 7 of the APSA standards asks teachers to encourage their students to develop an understanding of the social psychological sources and historical-cultural origins of their own political values, as well as critically analyze the personal/social implications of alternative values. Although Mr. Monroe did not explicitly address this standard within the election project, he did have students assess their own political beliefs (Beeson, Journell, & Ayers, 2014) and often referenced the historical development of political parties in the United States and the cultural stereotypes that are often associated with Democrats and Republicans. Finally, Mr. Monroe rarely, if ever, addressed non-American political systems (Standard 3), which is a limitation of his instruction and possibly a reflection of the constraints of the high-stakes, end-of-course state assessment.…”

“…9 In addition to the poster, Mr. Monroe had each student create a mock television advertisement for their candidate using iMovie. For more information on this aspect of the study, refer to Beeson et al (2014). 10 The quantitative portion of one student's survey was invalid, so her answers were not included in the quantitative portion of the survey analysis.…”

“…Downloaded by [University of Colorado -Health Science Library] at 03:41 31 March 2015 16 As in the pre-survey, the quantitative portion of one student's survey was invalid, so her answers were not included in the quantitative portion of the survey analysis. 17 We would also argue that Mr. Monroe possessed exceptional technological pedagogical content knowledge, an aspect of the study that is explored elsewhere (Beeson et al, 2014). Please circle the number that best corresponds to your feelings regarding each individual statement.…”

Relationship of Self-Efficacy and Technological, Pedagogical, Content Area Knowledge (TPACK) of National Board Certified Teachers (NBCTs)

“…Before this study, little was known about the relationship between self-efficacy and TPACK among NBCTs specifically. TPACK studies for non-NBCTs typically focused on content-specific subjects or grade-level specific teachers (Beeson et al, 2014;Celik & Aytin, 2014;Utomo, 2022). Overall, preservice populations were more prevalent than any other teacher population studied within TPACK (Aldemir Engin et al, 2022;Jordan & Dinh, 2012;Young et al, 2014).…”

The embodied social studies classroom – Repositioning the body in the social sciences in school

“…In recent years, scholars interested in social studies as a school subject have shown how teaching and learning in social studies classrooms can be understood through instruction, dialogue, cognition, reflection, concepts, thinking, writing, reading and awareness (e.g. Bickmore & Parker, 2014;Brooks, 2011;Hess, 2002;King, 2009;Nokes, 2014;Savenije, Van Boxtel, & Grever, 2014;Walker Beeson, Journell, & Ayers, 2014). Despite these important contributions, our knowledge about the teaching, learning and pedagogy of social studies in classrooms is mostly limited to explorations of cognitive, verbal and/or written aspects of the educational situation.…”