An investigation of science teachers' web pedagogical content knowledge

The purpose of this study is to investigate the web pedagogical content knowledge of science teachers. As a mixed method design, this study was carried out with science teachers teaching in Tokat during the 2016-2017 academic year. The sample of the quantitative part of the study is composed of 229 science teachers and the sample for the qualitative part consists of 17 science teachers with different work places, experience and education levels. Quantitative data in the study were collected through the Web Pedagogical Content Knowledge Scale developed by Lee, Tsai and Chang (2008) and adapted to Turkish by Horzum (2011) and the qualitative data were collected by semi-structured interview questions developed by the researcher. Quantitative data obtained from the study were analyzed using descriptive statistics, Mann-Whitney U and Kruskal-Wallis H tests. The qualitative data were content analyzed. The quantitative results of the research indicate that the levels of self-efficacy for web pedagogical content knowledge are very high. There is a significant difference in the level of self-efficacy for communicative web based on gender and educational level of science teachers. In addition, the scores obtained from the overall scale and its sub-dimensions significantly differed on experience of science teachers. Furthermore, the scores obtained from the overall scale and some of its sub-dimensions did significantly differ on science teachers' web experience and receiving Web education in teaching. The qualitative results of the study, revealed that science teachers made use of the Web for lectures, experiments, practice, visual support, videos and compensating the lack of materials. It is also emphasized that teachers should be educated to use Web in their practices of teaching.