TECHNOLOGICAL PEDAGOGICAL CONTENT KNOWLEDGE

OF UNIVERSITY PROFESSORS WHO ADOPTED AN ONLINE

AUTHORING TOOL IN THEIR EDUCATIONAL PRACTICES

A Case Study of blended Learning Experiences in Health Science Education

Miriam Struchiner, Taís Rabetti Giannella

Núcleo de Tecnologia Educacional para a Saúde, Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro

Ilha do Fundão, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

Marina Bazzo de Espíndola

Departamento de Metodologia de Ensino, Centro de Ciências da Educação

Universidade Federal de Santa Catarina, Florianópolis, Brazil

Keywords: Information and Communication Technology, Technological Pedagogical Content Knowledge, Course

Management System, Science and Health Education.

Abstract: This paper is an analysis of cases of university professors’ incorporation of information and communication

technology (ICT) in their instruction in terms of their expression of their pedagogical, technological and

content knowledge. Our analysis is based on semi-structured interviews with nine professors who used a

web-based authoring tool to build virtual learning environments (VLEs) to support their classroom courses.

Results show that the manner in which professors incorporate ICT in their classrooms is expressed in terms

of the specifics of the field of Health and Science education, with regards to the nature of both teaching

content and teaching strategy. Thus, much focus was given to the use of resources that enabled visualization

of abstract phenomena, the use of primary sources of information, the development of new ways to carry out

practical activities, and communication tools that broadened the space for solving cases and problems.

1 INTRODUCTION

Generating tools for easy use on the Internet, like

course management systems and authoring tools, has

enabled professors in various fields to experience

building and publishing their own educational

material according to their educational interests,

needs, and approaches (Giannella and Struchiner,

2006).

Harris et al (2007) describe teaching as an

activity that is strongly dependent on context,

covering a wide variety of learning environments,

situations, and connections between theory and

practice. They suggest that the integration of

technology in teaching needs new knowledge in this

area. Teachers’ great challenge in adopting

Information and Communication Technology (ICT)

is developing pedagogical creative opportunities to

use educational technology based on an integrated

knowledge structure for teaching their specific

contents (Niess, 2005).

Recent literature in the field of educational

technology addresses the need to investigate

relationships among different pedagogical,

technological, and content knowledge of professors

when incorporating ICT in education (Mishra and

Koheler, 2005 and 2005, Niess, 2005, Lee and Tsai,

2008). The objective of this study is to present the

analysis of a group of nine University Health and

Science professors’ experiences with ICT in

teaching. We focused our analyses especially with

respect to professors’ content, pedagogical, and

technological knowledge involved in the process of

adopting innovations in their teaching practices.

Struchiner M., Rabetti Giannella T. and Bazzo de Espíndola M..

TECHNOLOGICAL PEDAGOGICAL CONTENT KNOWLEDGE OF UNIVERSITY PROFESSORS WHO ADOPTED AN ONLINE AUTHORING TOOL

IN THEIR EDUCATIONAL PRACTICES - A Case Study of blended Learning Experiences in Health Science Education.

DOI: 10.5220/0003340100560064

In Proceedings of the 3rd International Conference on Computer Supported Education (CSEDU-2011), pages 56-64

ISBN: 978-989-8425-50-8

 2011 SCITEPRESS (Science and Technology Publications, Lda.)

2 THEORETICAL AND

METHODOLOGICAL

BACKGROUND

The incorporation of ICT in teaching is a complex

process that involves the interaction of multiple

factors composing each educational scenario.

Traditionally, the field of educational technology

combined efforts to study technological,

pedagogical, social, and institutional factors that

influenced the process of incorporating ICT

(Moersch, 1995; Hooper & Rieber, 1995; Stoner,

1996; Sherry et al, 2000; Lim and Khine, 2006).

Recently, this field has grown wider on account of

studies that have emphasized the importance of

including context characteristics of each teaching

content in order to find effective ways of using ICT

(Mishra and Khoeler, 2005; Kanuka, 2006).

Based on their experiences in training professors

to use ICT, Mishra and Koehler (2005) observed that

the ways in which professors pedagogically used

technology were intimately related to the nature of

teaching problems faced by each academic

discipline, to specific elements of the subject matter,

and to the culture of professors' field of knowledge.

The authors thus showed that the aspects of

pedagogical content knowledge proposed by

Schulman (1986) were fundamental for

understanding the strategies of ICT utilization

adopted by the professors. Based on this, Mishra and

Khoeler (2006) proposed a conceptual system of

Technological Pedagogical Content Knowledge

(TPCK), including technology-related knowledge in

the construct previously proposed by Schulman

(1986). TPCK thus seeks to express pedagogical,

content, and technological knowledge with strategies

chosen by professors for the incorporation of ICT in

their teaching practices.

Content knowledge (CK) refers to knowledge

harnessed for teaching, including the identification

of central aspects to the content, concepts, theories,

procedures, and methodologies in the academic field

as well as knowledge of organizational models. It

further involves an understanding of the nature of

the field and respective research methodologies.

Kennedy (1990) proposes the elements that

comprise CK: 1. the content area itself, i.e. the facts,

concepts, principles, and laws; 2. the organization

and structure of the content, where facts and ideas

interact; 3. the research methods in the specific field

of knowledge; 4. the field’s social norms; 5. how the

topic relates to social questions; 6. how students

value the topic in their every day life, and 7. the

nature of the field and the teaching problems it

faces.

Pedagogical knowledge (PK) is the knowledge of

teaching processes, practices, and methods, and how

these relate to educational values and objectives

(Mishra and Khoeler, 2006). It is a knowledge based

on epistemological concepts regarding education

that include student learning, class management,

planning, evaluation, and assessment (Harris et al,

2007).

Technological knowledge (TK) involves the

knowledge of information and communication

technology to be productively applied in one’s work

and daily life (Mishra and Khoeler, 2006). Cox

(2008) defines TK as the knowledge of ways to use

emerging technologies, focusing on the discussion of

technology whose use is yet uncommon or

infrequent in the learning context.

Pedagogical content knowledge (PCK) is

pedagogical knowledge applied to the teaching of a

specific content. It refers to an understanding of

which approaches, representations, and expressions

of pedagogical concepts and strategies best adapt to

teaching a particular subject matter, and how to

organize topics in such a way as to be better

understood. It also includes knowledge of students’

prior ideas of the subject matter and knowledge of

what makes a topic difficult or easily understandable

for students.

Finally, it includes knowledge of teaching

strategies that incorporate appropriate

representations of content to help overcome student

difficulties (Shulman, 1986; Mishra and Khoeler,

2006).

Technological pedagogical content knowledge

(TPCK) is an emerging knowledge that goes beyond

the sum of the three basic components. Upon

reviewing studies referring to TPCK and upon

interviewing each study author, Cox (2008)

synthesized the definition of TPCK as the

knowledge of activities that are specific to a given

content or topic, and their representations using

technology. Thus, this element refers to the

understanding of pedagogical strategies that apply

ICT to teach content in different manners according

to students’ learning needs (Harris et al, 2007).

Recent research has incorporated the concept of

TPCK to investigate how and why professors

integrate technology into their teaching practices,

and where they encounter difficulties in this process

(Niess, 2005, Lee and Tsai, 2008, Tondeur et al,

2008). Tondeur et al (2008) analyzed the ways

professors’ teaching conceptions affected the

incorporation of ICT. They related traditional and

TECHNOLOGICAL PEDAGOGICAL CONTENT KNOWLEDGE OF UNIVERSITY PROFESSORS WHO ADOPTED

AN ONLINE AUTHORING TOOL IN THEIR EDUCATIONAL PRACTICES - A Case Study of blended Learning

Experiences in Health Science Education

constructivist teaching approaches to the different

types of educational computer use. The results of

their study suggest that professors with traditional

teaching views generally emphasize guided self-

instruction, while those with constructivist views

lead to the use of computers as tools for seeking

information and for communication. The authors

conclude that teaching conceptions strongly

influence the ways computers are used in professors’

educational contexts. Nevertheless, they also stress

that seemingly opposing views are not exclusive

and, often, reflections of both conceptions are found

within the practices of a single professor.

Niess (2005) used the theoretical bases of TPCK

to evaluate the development of in training teachers'

use of ICT in the context of Science and

Mathematics education. The author investigated

teachers' characteristics on the following aspects: 1.

conceptions of teaching Science and Mathematics

with technology; 2. pedagogic strategies and

representations for teaching, using technology; 3.

student content learning with technology, and 4.

curriculum and curricular materials.

Among the conclusions presented in Niess’

research was the predominance of the use of ICT for

demonstration and for carrying out laboratory

activities, which are traditional practices in Science

education.

The TPCK approach is compatible with our

perspective about the integration of ICT in

education, since we seek to understand ICT use in

natural educational contexts, where this knowledge

is in play and shapes educational practices.

3 METHODOLOGICAL

PROCEDURES

3.1 Study Participants

The study was conducted with nine Science and

Health professors at a public university in Rio de

Janeiro. They are pioneers in the use of the

Constructore authoring tool for the development of

virtual learning environments to complement

classroom education.

These professors, in general, are PhDs and full

professors working exclusively for the university,

three of whom work in the Department of

Biomedical Engineering, two in the Biophysics

Institute, two in the Institute of Psychiatry, one in the

Center for Educational Technology for Health, and

one in the Institute for Medical Biochemistry.

3.2 Description of the Constructore

Authoring Tool

“Constructore” (http://ltc.nutes.ufrj.br/constructore)

is an authoring tool developed to provide university

professors with resources to easily build, publish,

and manage educational activities and/or material on

the Internet, without the need of any prior

programming knowledge. Constructore was

conceived with a flexible structure that allows users

to develop activities and materials based on different

learning approaches and strategies.

Constructore’s interface encompasses three main

working areas: 1) The “teacher’s space” is a personal

management area where the author has different

ways of accessing all courses s/he has developed as

well as the course development area; 2) The “course

creation environment” is where the professor begins

authoring the course: (a) defining basic information

(name of the course or activity, target students,

course outline, etc); (b) identifying the number and

name of the course modules, and (c) selecting the

resources that will be made available to students

(consultation and communication resources, etc);

once these initial parameters are defined, users may

access the 3) “course environment” (Figure 1), an

area that provides facilities for users to built course

contents and activities (inserting learning objects,

reading and consultation material, and

communication resources) on a “what you see is

what you get” basis. It is in this environment where

the learning process ultimately takes place.

Figure 1: Example of a Constructore based VLE.

Figure 1 shows a typical page of a course

environment. Constructore allows for the planning

and development of the following elements: the

course’s front page (a page with the course

CSEDU 2011 - 3rd International Conference on Computer Supported Education

Table 1: Categories of analysis and elements analyzed.

Categories Elements analyzed

Content knowledge

Content knowledge harnessed for teaching, including the identification of professors’ main concerns

regarding teaching content.

Pedagogical knowledge Involves professors’ teaching views and conceptions of the teaching-learning process.

Technological knowledge Cases of ICT use and views of its use in the educational context.

Pedagogical content

knowledge

Pedagogical strategies that professors considered most adequate to teaching content.

Technological pedagogical

content knowledge

Expression of each professor’s specific course content with pedagogical opportunities to incorporate

ICT and the use of the Constructore tool

presentation), modules (where learning objects,

activities, and exercise forms are inserted and

organized; a presentation of the objectives, and

activities, etc. are offered on each module’s initial

page), communication (announcements, forums,

frequently asked questions, and emails), consultation

(glossaries, links, and bibliography), participants (a

list of all participants, with access to their personal

pages), personal page (user page), and management

page (resources for monitoring the course, such as

user administration, grades, course navigation,

analysis, and usage statistics). Constructore enables

available resources to be associated and linked. In

other words, the professor is able to indicate the

resources that in some way relate to or are associated

with others. This can be done with all consultation

and communication resources, learning objects,

activities, and exercise forms. In addition, another

element considered when designing the authoring

tool was to provide professors with the choice of

defining users (students, tutors, and monitors)

permissions to insert and/or to edit content

(consultation resources, communication, learning

objects, activities and forms).

3.3 Procedure for Collecting

and Analyzing Data

In an attempt to understand how different knowledge

is expressed and influences the process of

incorporating virtual learning environments (VLEs)

in teaching, we conducted semi-structured

interviews with the nine professors. We collected

information on the profile of these professors, their

expectations, their views of the teaching-learning

process, and the use of ICT; their experience in

building and implementing their courses with the

support of the Constructore tool, and the strategies

they used; their central needs with respect to course

content, and the role of technology in their practices.

The interviews were recorded, transcribed, and

analyzed using the method of content analysis

(Minayo, 2003), using the proposed TPCK

categories. In this process we sought to identify

which aspects related to content, pedagogy, and

technology the professors deemed significant and

how these aspects interacted in the context of ICT

integration. The elements analyzed within each

category are included in Table 1.

4 RESULTS

All participating professors developed their course

VLE as a complementary space to provide resources

and/or engage students in learning activities (Table

2).

In some cases, the VLE involved mandatory

activities, such as the submission of guided studies,

uploading notes from weekly readings, reports with

problem-solving steps submitted by students, online

group work, and discussion forums.

The following describes the results of our

analysis of interviews with professors. In this

analysis, we attempt to approach the knowledge

involved in the use of ICT and subsequently we seek

to understand how such is incorporated to comprise

TPCK, which served as the bases for the professors’

pedagogical online experiences with the use of the

Constructore authoring tool.

4.1 Content Knowledge

The professors refer to the content of their courses as

extensive, complex, and dynamic. Scientific

knowledge is constantly evolving, and many fields

involve a high degree of abstraction (P4, P7, P9).

“The course has such a heavy information

load that a class period becomes very short to

provide time for student reflexion and

discussion.” (P3)

“I teach a highly abstract content, which deals

with abstract concepts such as molecules and

energy, which are really difficult to observe, and

therefore to mentally represent.” (P9)

TECHNOLOGICAL PEDAGOGICAL CONTENT KNOWLEDGE OF UNIVERSITY PROFESSORS WHO ADOPTED

AN ONLINE AUTHORING TOOL IN THEIR EDUCATIONAL PRACTICES - A Case Study of blended Learning

Experiences in Health Science Education

Table 2: Description of VLE classes implemented by professors.

Prof Courses Course objective and manner in which VLE is used Target Audience

Curriculum Planning and

Teaching in the Health Field

To analyze health from the point of view of integral care; to

grasp teaching aspects in the field of Health through the

discussion of texts in forums and the preparation of electronic

reports with steps for resolving the problem presented

Graduate students in Health

P2 Computational Methods

To provide the bases for basic programming of digital

computers with an emphasis on applications in Biomedical

Engineering, providing exercises and resource materials for

students

Graduate students in Health

P3 Mathematical Methods

To provide the Mathematical bases for Biomedical Engineering

by making software files available so that students can do

Mathematical modeling exercises

Graduate students in Health

Physiology - Neurophysiology

Module

To understand the organization of the nervous system; to

analyze neural activities at the different neural-axis levels under

a functional-anatomical lens. To facilitate visualization of the

organization and functioning of the nervous system by making

available different materials in different formats for representing

knowledge

Undergraduate students in

Physical Education

P5 General Psychopathology

To introduce the field of Psychopathology and to enable the

student to use this knowledge as a clinical tool, making leaning

resources available, including texts, slides and statements by

psychiatric patients

Undergraduate students in

Psychology

P6 Special Psychopathology I

To provide a practical and theoretical introduction to the main

clinical diagnoses in psychiatry, making psychiatric patient

statements available

Undergraduate students in

Psychology

General Physiology 1 –

Biophysics (Neurophysiology

module)

To provide an overall understanding of organization of the

nervous system by offering reliable sources that can be

consulted with various means of representing the content. To

encourage scientific questioning in the field of Neuroscience

and to enable a critical view of practical activities

Undergraduate students in

Medical Biology

Measuring Biological

Phenomena

To impart notions of transductors used in Biomedical

instrumentation by offering resources and exercises online to

apply the concepts taught

Graduate students in health

Biochemistry M1 –

Compementary activities

To offer the student the opportunity to deepen his/her

knowledge of metabolic integration through guided online

studies based on scientific articles

Undergraduate students in

medicine

One recurring issue posed by the professors

when delimiting their teaching topics is the need to

deepen the content while applying this knowledge in

the specific area in which the students will act (P2,

P3, P4), given that some students show preconceived

notions in terms of course contents (P5) or they

consider it extremely difficult to learn (P3, P8).

“The student starts the course with

preconceptions … he believes we will only focus

on the biological foundations (basic science

versus clinical science)”. (P5)

“I already knew that course contents would

be considered by students the most difficult

among all semester courses.”(P8)

Another concern is the integration of the

traditionally fragmented knowledge that comprises

the content of their classes (P4, P5, P6, P7, P9). The

integration of knowledge is the focus of the classes

taught by professors P4, P7, and P9, who teach

physiological or biochemical functioning in the

body.

4.2 Pedagogical Knowledge

The majority of the professors reported that their

pedagogical knowledge was built on the very

practice of teaching and from the examples of other

teachers, especially academic research advisors with

whom they shared a classroom. Professors P1, P3,

and P6 were the only professors who participated in

institutional teacher-training initiatives, and

professor P8 reported dissatisfaction with the lack of

teacher training.

In their interviews, the professors spoke both of

their concern with the development of students who

are critical thinkers (P1, P2, P9), reflective (P9),

capable of making autonomous decisions (P9), who

value collaborative learning opportunities based on

discussions (P1, P5, P6, P7, P9), and the

CSEDU 2011 - 3rd International Conference on Computer Supported Education

development of a habit of studying (P2, P3, P8)

through individualized learning activities (P2, P3,

P8).

“I hope students become able to develop

critical sense and autonomy to make decisions,

and not to become robots... they need to be

critical with regard to new information because

the world is changing every second, and they

need to be prepared to deal with those changes.”

(P9)

“I avoid giving lectures, I adopt study groups,

the classroom layout is always a circle. Let's say

that it is a dialogical lecture.” (P1)

“The most common students' difficulties are

not perceiving and not believing that it is

necessary continuing training to be able to

computer programming. Working in groups,

students have the unreal feelings that they know

the contents and are able to complete tasks.” (P2)

Some professors valued flexible study hours (P2,

P3, P8, P9), respecting student preferences.

Moreover, the professors expressed different views

of their role in teaching students. Some of the duties

highlighted were: provide learning resources (P9),

evaluate and assess what students have learned (P3),

teach cases and the reasoning and logic in the field

(P5, P6, P9), and question learning topics (P1). All

professors also considered their role of motivating

students an important one.

“Teach student how to think. It is not

necessary that the professor keeps talking and

transferring information that can be accessed in a

book. The point is that the professor has years of

experience and he is able to support student

learning in a dynamic way, related with the way

things happen in real life.” (P6)

“I would say that my role is to complicate

students' minds... “ (P1)

4.3 Technological Knowledge

Professors expressed different views and

experiences regarding technology. Professors P2, P4,

and P8 reported using technology in all areas of their

lives, including teaching activities.

Prior to using Constructore, Professor P4 was

already adopting a CD-ROM with material in html

format, seeking to offer his students information in

various formats to facilitate visualization and

understanding of how the nervous system functions.

Professors P3, P5, P6, and P7 reported that they

use multimedia projector as their primary tool to

support their teaching activities; professors P5 and

P6 also seek to incorporate the use of audiovisuals in

their classes.

Since professor P9 does not feel comfortable

using technology for educational purposes, he

reported that he used just blackboard, books, and

articles in his classes, before adopting Constructore.

In turn, professor P1 expressed his concern with

the increased emphasis on technological devices and

the decreased focus on professors' pedagogical

attributes. We observed that many participating

professors consider the Internet to be a familiar

language for students (P2, P6, P7, P9), which can

serve to motivate student engagement in activities.

They emphasized universal access to information

(P4, P7) but were concerned with unreliable

information and with students merely copying

information available online during learning

activities (P2, P4, P7, P9).

4.4 Pedagogical Content Knowledge

In general, professors’ choices of teaching strategies

are focused on contextualizing Science and Health

content in students' future professional practice,

decreasing the abstraction of basic content and, thus,

motivating students to become engaged in activities,

as can be noted in the following statement:

“We tried to select motivating articles.

Therefore we used clinical based published

articles because students show high expectations

on this kind information, as they want to link

learning with their future professional practices.

They are not interested in knowledge by itself

but they are eager to understand knowledge

application. “ (P9)

The diversification of information sources is a

frequent concern in professors’ discourse, due to the

following factors: lack of uniformity in text books

and didactic material (P7); difficulty in visualizing

phenomena and representing problems in text format

(P2, P4, P8); need to include updated information

(P9, P7), and need to bring students closer to patient

experiences (P5, P6).

“In my course, content problems are best

represented with sketches, graphics, or circuits

… merely using text turns out to be

inappropriate.” (P8)

“Some students are afraid of having close

contacts with psychiatric patients, so this is also

a difficulty.” (P5)

According to professors (P1, P7, and P9),

scientific articles are used as a source of information

to bring students closer to scientific language and to

TECHNOLOGICAL PEDAGOGICAL CONTENT KNOWLEDGE OF UNIVERSITY PROFESSORS WHO ADOPTED

AN ONLINE AUTHORING TOOL IN THEIR EDUCATIONAL PRACTICES - A Case Study of blended Learning

Experiences in Health Science Education

enable constant class content updating. The activities

proposed by professors P1 and P9 for their students

were based on journal article analysis and

interpretations.

Professor P9 develops activities based on the

rediscovery method, which consists of focusing

important findings in the history of knowledge

development in the field. Concerned about the

subjective nature of the diagnosis of psychiatric

patients, professors P5 and P6 adopted a strategy of

discussing clinical cases or vignettes. This strategy

seeks to situate students in the field of psychiatry

and to demonstrate how professionals in this field

view psychological changes, enabling learners to

make diagnoses in the future.

“Case based exercises are supposed to enable

students to recognize health problems described

in the textbooks.”(P6)

The focus of professor P1’s course is problem-

based learning (PBL) through group discussions, in

order to develop students’ critical and inquiry skills.

According to professor P1, this strategy requires

much students’ dedication, which represents a

challenge for the dynamics of the course.

“I choose a problematic situation covering all

course topics. Then we work together with

students to identify these problems. This turns

out to be the conceptual part of the course,

covering concepts about health, health care,

curriculum... the problem ends up taking a much

larger space in the course schedule …”(P1)

Those professors whose classes are based on

solving problems in Mathematics and Physics use

teaching strategies focused on establishing basic

content, wherein the students must solve various

exercises to better develop their reasoning in the

area; the process involves repetition and training.

Moreover, these professors look to practical

activities, whether in the programming laboratory

(P2) or by virtual simulators given the difficulty of

conducting real practices at the undergraduate level

(P8).

4.5 Technological Pedagogical Content

Knowledge

All professors stressed the use of the Constructore

tool to facilitate student access to learning resources,

with an emphasis on facilitating access to materials

in different formats and to the large amount of

information needed for their classes.

The need to diversify the formats for

representing content led professors to use images

and animation to help visualize biological

phenomena (P4, P7, P9), to use films and audio

recordings to help bring students closer to

psychiatric patients’ experiences with illness (P5,

P6), and to use computer-graphics to represent

physics and mathematics concepts (P2, P3, P8). The

statement below provides and example of the use of

video in one professor's particular experience:

“Video is a way of bringing the voice of the

patient into the classroom without the need to

bring the actual patient in.” (P5)

Professors P1, P6, and P9 involved students with

active information search in texts and in scientific

articles available to resolve the problem studied or to

answer to clinical case situations presented.

“I give them a basic text, and the rest they

look for on the Internet. They look up these texts,

make note cards and upload them (onto the VLE

forum). The group leader is responsible for tying

these note cards together and preparing the

report.” (P1)

Understanding the need to involve students in

practical scientific activities led professor P8 to use

virtual simulators, as he explains in the following

statement:

“We are going to make a virtual thermometer,

so how is it that we design a thermometer? How

are the signs read? The objective is to transform

your PC into an instrument.” (P8)

Some professors who used group activities to

solve cases and problems sought the help of

Constructore to offer an additional space for

discussion and interaction (P1, P9).

“The purpose of using Constructore was

primarily to contribute to expanding the space

for discussing 'problem based learning' outside

the classroom.” (P1)

The integration of educational technology was

also viewed as enabling greater contact between

students and professors, allowing students to feel

more supported in the learning process, and to

become part of a learning community (P5, P6).

“I faced a challenge: I have seventy students;

how was I going to interact closely with them?

One student had the opportunity to bring me a

text he had found discussing a pathological issue;

the text was uploaded into the course VLE at

Constructore, and we discussed it. So, it also

allows for absorbing what the students bring to

me.” (P5)

CSEDU 2011 - 3rd International Conference on Computer Supported Education

5 DISCUSSION

AND CONCLUSIONS

The analyses of pedagogical aspects, of the nature of

teaching concepts, and of experiences and views

concerning the use of ICT enable us to contextualize

and understand the ways Science and Health

professors incorporate ICT in the process of building

and implementing VLEs (Niess, 2005, 2006; Mishra

and Koheler, 2005; Tondeur et al, 2008).

The concern with bringing scientific content

closer to students’ reality, as noted in the interviews

with all the professors, constantly appears in

curricular and methodological proposals for teaching

Science, as it also does the involvement of students

in research practices (Krajeik, 2002; Laurillard,

2004; DeHaan, 2005; Schank & Cleary, 1995).

Based on concrete experiences, students develop

their reflexive and abstraction abilities (Kolb, 1984).

This is considered to be a crucial procedural step in

developing scientific reasoning (DeHaan, 2005).

Professors of subjects with similar content and

teaching concepts tend to support ICT in a similar

manner. Professors with content based on Physics

and Math problems, for example, used teaching

strategies to train students through exercises to

reinforce basic content and student involvement in

practical laboratory classes. The statements by these

professors pointed to views of leaning that valued

individualized learning and instruction. These

professors explored the potential of ICT to make

materials and exercises available and to simulate

practical activities, which is consistent with other

Science and Mathematics professors described by

Niess (2005). Another pattern of ICT use was also

observed with Physiology and Biochemestry

professors. As their teaching needs necessarily

including the visualization of phenomena and

building student capacity to deal with the rapid

growth and constantly updating information in their

fields, they have harnessed the potential of ICT to

use images, audiovisuals, and scientific articles as

sources of information.

Health professors seek an approach to biological,

psychological, social, and cultural dimensions from

the perspective of integral healthcare (Kell, 2006).

Thus, they use pedagogic strategies in which the

student is encouraged to reflect and produce

knowledge based on practical situations, such as

case studies and PBL, which, according to Berbel

(1998), emerge from the field of Health education to

overcome fragmented and technical-based teaching.

These professors used Constructore as a space to

discuss problems and to access materials that enable

students to have contact with the different

dimensions and representations of class content.

Thus, we conclude that the approach to the

conceptual system of TPCK can contribute to

understanding the different roles attributed to ICT in

professors’ practices. There are many pedagogical

and resource possibilities based on ICT to be

explored by Science professors, but they will only be

incorporated to the extent that professors develop

their technological and pedagogical knowledge in an

articulated manner (Espíndola et al 2007, Mishra e

Khoeler, 2006). In this sense, the discussion

surrounding ICT in education should be focused on

the teaching role, investigating the challenges faced

by professors in the process of integrating material,

and in their needs for continuing education.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

This research was conducted with the support of the

Brazilian Council of Research (CNPq), Ministry of

Science and Technology.

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