Exploring interdisciplinary STEM quest as an opportunity for online teacher professional development using TPACK framework
Date of Award
1-2023
Document Type
Dissertation
Degree Name
Master of Philosophy in Education
First Supervisor/Advisor
Dr Tasneem Anwar
Department
Institute for Educational Development, Karachi
Abstract
This dissertation study presents in-service teachers’ experiences of co-designing an interdisciplinary Science Technology Engineering and Mathematics (iSTEM) WebQuest as iSTEMQuest in an iSTEM-focused online Teacher Professional Development (oTPD). This study shares eight science and math teachers' iSTEM inquiry in primary grades in a public school context in Hyderabad, Pakistan. This study used a three-phase design-based research as its methodological framework derived from McKenney and Reeves (2012) and was grounded in the theoretical framework of the Technological Pedagogical Content Knowledge – TPACK (Mishra and Koehler, 2006). This study allowed the researcher to develop a researcher-practitioner partnership with participant in-service teachers through exploration, implementation, and evaluation of the iSTEM-oTPD. Teachers developed their iSTEMQuests in two teams using iSTEM as a crosscutting element as recently added to the Pakistan National Curriculum. Data were collected through semi-structured interviews, teachers’ self-assessment rubrics, Focused Group Discussions, and the artefacts collected during the iSTEM-oTPD. The findings of this study are presented as six design principles (1) WebQuest as a guided inquiry; (2) collaborative approach to trying new ideas; (3) use of the WhatsApp platform as an online community of practice; (4) explicit use of TPACK Framework; (5) balanced approach for using theory in practice; and (6) enhancement of the learning experience through a researcher-practitioner partnership. Moreover, the study also highlighted in-service teachers’ views of iSTEM and found S at the core of iSTEM, while T was reflected in the use of multimedia in the design of iSTEMQuest and somehow E was lost whereas, M was found to support the concepts of science and their application in real-world settings. The study also shows how the inquiry-oriented purpose of WebQuest was lost. This design-based research offers implications for both practitioners and researchers.
Recommended Citation
Iftikhar, S. (2023). Exploring interdisciplinary STEM quest as an opportunity for online teacher professional development using TPACK framework [MPhil Dissertation]. Aga Khan University.
