Assessing the Technological Pedagogical Content Knowledge of Pre-Service Science Teachers at a South African University

Introduction

Advances in information and communication technology (ICT) have diversified teacher instruction and it is claimed that “ICTs have the potential to improve the quality of education and training” (Department of Basic Education, 2004, p. 8). This is imperative for the integration of ICT in learning expressed through South Africa’s White Paper 7 on e-Education (Department of Basic Education, 2004), where it is stated that “ICTs can advance higher order thinking skills such as comprehension, reasoning, problem-solving, creative thinking and enhance employability” (p. 14). Furthermore, with regards to teaching it is asserted that “e-Education will connect learners and teachers to better information, ideas and to one another via effective combinations of pedagogy and technology in support of educational reform” (p. 14). By having this resource at hand, teachers will have access to the needed information to allow them to explain content in a more comprehensible way but also demonstrate it to learners (Ramnarain & Moosa, 2017). In South Africa, ICT integration is also seen as having a transformational effect in advancing national educational goals such as equity and quality in an education system that has historically marginally Black students (Ford & Botha, 2010; Ramnarain & Modiba, 2013). Given the potential contribution of ICT to learning, there is a need to study more closely teacher competency in their instructional actions when integrating ICT into their teaching practice.