TPACK

"TPACK" stands for "Technological, Pedagogical, and Content Knowledge". It is possible for teachers to use any combination of these elements when teaching, but the most effective teaching happens when the teacher relies on knowledge from all 3 of these areas. Technological knowledge refers to knowing how to use current technology in the classroom as a teaching tool. Pedagogical knowledge is understanding the art of teaching and how students are most likely to learn. Content knowledge means knowing the material that you are teaching very well. Each of these types of knowledge is important, and by using all of them a teacher can teach content in a way that kids will learn, use, and remember.

After learning about TPACK, we had the opportunity in class to start thinking about a science lesson that we could teach to elementary students using the TPACK method. We explored several different science and math technologies including programs such as Stellarium, Google Earth, temperature technology, etc. I really liked the Google Earth program and I think it could be a great way to teach geography and landforms since it is unrealistic to travel around the world to see the sites in person. My plan is to create an elementary lesson on world geography using some kind of scavenger hunt on Google Earth. I think it will be fun for kids to use this technology to actually see the places with the types of landforms they are looking for, and they will have more fun and remember it better than just reading from a textbook or something.