Evaluation of science teacher candidates' technological pedagogical content knowledge on material development process

This study was conducted with the aim of meeting the necessity to investigate science teachers' TPCK on this issue because their ability to develop materials is deemed important. This study will make a significant contribution to the literature by creating an original scale to determine science teacher candidates' TPCK self-efficacy on developing materials. Furthermore, the evaluation of the materials developed by students according to how they score in the scale is also considered to be an important contribution to the literature. In this study, the nested approach of mixed method was used. The quantitative part of the study was formed through survey research, while descriptive research was carried out for the qualitative part. The quantitative part of the research was conducted with a group of 86 third grade science teacher candidates who were studying in the Faculty of Education at Manisa Celal Bayar University, and, the qualitative part of the research was carried out with 30 of these science teacher candidates. For the selection of the participants, the criterion sampling of purposive sampling, which is one of the non-random sampling approaches, was used. The data collection tools that were used throughout the study are the "technological pedagogical content knowledge (TPCK) self-efficacy scale on the material development of science teachers", which was developed as a part of the research, TPCK scoring key, material evaluation form, interview form and the "stop motion" materials prepared by the teacher candidates in the course entitled Instructional Technologies and Material Design. During the research, a 5 level Likert scale with a Cronbach's Alpha reliability coefficient of .93, consisting of 40 items and 8 factors [content knowledge (CK) on sub-branches of science, content knowledge (CK) on branches of science, pedagogy knowledge (PK), technology knowledge (TK), pedagogy content knowledge (PCK), technology content knowledge (TCK) and technological pedagogical content knowledge (TPCK)], was developed. After the TPCK self-efficacy levels of the science teacher candidates were analysed through the scale according to a number of variables, their materials were evaluated by using the TPCK scoring key and material evaluation form, and, the correlation between them was investigated. Subsequently, 30 teacher candidates were interviewed. As a result of the research, it was revealed that the science teacher candidates who developed materials considered themselves to be "very good" in PCK and TPK, and "good" in all other dimensions. The evaluation of their materials through TPCK scoring key showed the level of TPK dimension to be at a very good level in materials. It was concluded that the teacher candidates used their TK and PK on materials at a very good level. It was revealed that the teacher candidates considered themselves to be more qualified in TK. It was found out that the TPCK self-efficacy of the teacher candidates on developing materials differed on certain levels depending on their gender, grade point average, ownership of computer, computer usage per day, level of computer usage, where the internet access is provided, the technological devices they used, and the high schools they graduated from; but did not differ according to the social networks they used. It was discovered that the level of teacher candidates to use their TPCK self-efficacy on developing materials to be "good" in CK, PK, PCK, TCK and TPCK, and "very good" in TK and TPK. The materials were evaluated according to the criteria specified in the material evaluation form, and it was observed that the teacher candidates developed their materials at a "good" level. It was discovered that there is no correlation between their TPCK self-efficacy and their TPCK on their materials. Additionally, the teacher candidates were interviewed with the purpose of supporting the quantitative data obtained and a content analysis was made. Recommendations were made on the basis of the findings of the research.