The effect of technological pedagogical content knowledge (TPACK) based blended learning environment on pre - service science teachers' TPACK and classroom practices involving the topics of basic astronomy

The purpose of this study is to investigate the effect of Special Teaching Methods II and the School Experience courses carried out according to the Technological Pedagogical Content Knowledge (TPACK) based blended learning environment on pre-service science teachers' (PSTs') TPACK and classroom practices involving the topics of basic astronomy (Lunar and Solar eclipses, day and night, Moon phases, seasons and celestial bodies). This study was carried out upon 37 (31 females and 6 males) 4th grade PSTs who are randomly selected in the Department of Science Education Program in Faculty of Education during 2013-2014 academic year. Blended learning environment designed on the transformative model of TPACK was integrated by considering the power sides of face to face and online learning environment and then this was supported with in and out of class teaching practices. In this context, face-to-face courses were carried out based on the discussion. The online learning environment was constituted of four online systems which are "Moodle Learning Management System", "Virtual Classroom", "Electronic Portfolio" and "Reflective Instructional Blog Page". Individual semi-structured interview and lesson preparation method for the PSTs' TPACK and field notes, video records and observation protocols for the PSTs' classroom practices were used as data collection tools in this study. In this study based on pre-test post-test one group design, the data for the PSTs' TPCK and classroom practices was collected in the beginning and end of the study. The experimental findings obtained from this research showed that there was a statistically significant change about the PSTs' TPACK and classroom practices as part of the basic astronomy topics. Based on these results, it was observed that TPACK-based blended learning environment made important contribution to the development of PSTs' TPACK and classroom practices involving the topics of basic astronomy.