Prompting Reflections for Integrating Self-Regulation Into Teacher Technology Education

Background: Technology represents a major topic in educational research. Nevertheless, a
gap in the research remains concerning how teachers can bring technology into the classroom.
This study focuses on the technological pedagogical content knowledge (TPCK) framework,
which aims to consolidate the multidisciplinary professional knowledge related to technology,
pedagogy, and content that teachers need so that they can teach and students can learn effectively
using technology tools.

Purpose: The goal of the present study was to investigate the value of modification reflection
prompts (“think ahead”) as a complementary reflective framework during the teacher preparatory
program, beyond the more traditional judgment reflection prompts (“think back”). 

Research Design: We created a quasi-experimental opportunity for four groups of preservice
science teachers to systematically contemplate ready-made TPCK-oriented lesson designs.
Each used one of four different reflective methods (the independent variable): modification,
judgment, combined modification+judgment, or generic prompts. Then we examined the differential
contribution of these treatment methods to the two dependent variables: (1) preservice
teachers’ skills for designing actual science lessons and (2) their judgment-type and
modification-type self-reflection ability regarding the planning, monitoring, and evaluation
phases of their lesson-design process.

Data Collection and Analysis: Data were scored by coding schemes and were analyzed by
multivariate analysis of variance and follow-up analyses of variance with repeated measures.

Findings: Results indicated that preservice teachers who contemplated a combination of both
judgment and modification reflections in treatment improved more in their lesson-design
skills and in their self-reflection ability (of both types at the three phases), compared with
preservice teachers who contemplated only a single type of reflective prompt (generic or only
judgment or modification). Lasting effects (after a semester without the IMPROVE model,
prompts, or TPCK focus) revealed that the combined approach continued to significantly
outperform the single approaches.