Development of an instrument to assess university students’ perceptions of their science instructors’ TPACK.

Abstract

While university science teachers’ technological pedagogical and content knowledge (TPACK) is crucial for effective teaching, college-oriented, student-perceived measurements are still lacking. Hence, this research was conducted to make up for such a deficiency. We reviewed the literature and constructed a theoretical framework, which includes the conceptualization of our proposed five-component TPACK structure. The student-perceived TPACK instrument was developed and validated in a university context. Our factor analysis of the 33-item TPACK instrument revealed a four-factor structure, which is different from our original five-component framework. The TPACK instrument is content neutral in the sense that there are no items that references content-specific ideas, knowledge, or practice. The uses of qualitative and quantitative data make the instrument adaptive and flexible, enabling us to capture college science instructors’ TPACK and track their knowledge development. The research implications of this study are provided along with suggestions.