Exploring the role of content knowledge in teacher design conversations

This study investigated the role of content knowledge in conversations of kindergarten teachers during collaborative curriculum design of learning material for technology-enhanced learning. Two teams of teachers received support from an early literacy expert during these design activities. Resulting conversations were analyzed on technological pedagogical content knowledge, explicated reasoning, and the contributions of expert support. This study found that in explicating content knowledge and pedagogical content knowledge, teachers set goals and deliberated on strategies and activities that would be most appropriate for their students. Technological content knowledge and technological pedagogical content knowledge were explicated most during deliberations on practical concerns; these mainly revolved around optimizing the affordances of technology. This study contributes to understanding and supporting the pedagogical design capacity of teachers.