PRESERVICE SCIENCE TEACHERS’ CAPACITY TO PLAN USING TECHNOLOGY IN AN INTEGRATED TEACHER PREPARATION PROGRAM

The important role of integrating technology in support of engaging instruction is undeniable. It is called for in the Next Generation Science Standards (Achieve, Inc., 2013) and has been promoted in countless publications (Warschauer, 2006; Goethals, Howard, & Sanders, 2004; Mishra & Koehler, 2006; Bell, Gess-Newsome, & Luft, 2008; Koehler & Mishra, 2009; Schmidt et al., 2009; Harris & Hofer, 2009). Despite this rich research base, relatively little is known about how teachers develop the capacity to carry out this work in the early part of their professional trajectory. \ud This study looked to unpack and understand how a small set (n=6) of preservice secondary science teachers (PSST) developed the capacity to integrate digital technology that supported engaged science learning into their instructional planning. The PSST studied were enrolled in a Master of Arts and Teaching and teacher certification program that focused on the teaching of practices and that had previously been shown to support growth of their pedagogical design capacity (Grossman et. al, 2010; Ross, 2014; Kessler & Cartier 2014). In order to investigate the development of PSST planning with technology the program instructor designed and leveraged a set of intervention lessons integrated in the pedagogy course sequence.\ud Analysis of PSST planning documents and interviews showed a consistent and positive development of PSST ability to plan engaging science lessons supported with digital technologies after pedagogy course intervention. Further, the results point to the impact PSST internship placement sites and mentor support can have on how this planning process develops. Lastly, in a departure from previous research, the data show that PSST leveraged a set of planning routines in order to manage the overwhelming amount of resources and factors required to plan responsive instruction. The identification of planning routines as a part of PSST developing pedagogical design capacity opens the door to a new line of research and represents a slight shift in how the field has thought about this construct and its development. \u