By: Ronilo P. Antonio
The ever-changing environment redefines the broad skill sets needed for students to be adequately prepared to meet 21st-century standards. To achieve this, science teachers must shift from being passive to active facilitators of learning, providing a rich learning environment to develop 21st-century skills that not only contribute to the development of a well-prepared workforce of the future, but also cultivate students' life skills that help them succeed.
Teachers' technological pedagogical content knowledge, or TPACK, has increasingly become a critical aspect in the current times. TPCK is a research-based framework that describes the teachers’ knowledge and skills drawn from the critical aspects of content, pedagogy, and technology. It focuses on how effective and innovative teaching can be achieved through appropriate pedagogical approaches supported with educational technology in teaching the content in a particular context. It is a useful model for teachers that guide them in utilizing effective pedagogies and digital tools to support teaching and learning.
Considering that technology has increasingly transformed educational landscapes, science teachers should become more knowledgeable and skillful to better maximize technology to foster student-centered learning experiences. In doing so, I truly believe that teachers’ rich content and pedagogical knowledge are not the only essential elements but also their technological knowledge. This necessitates the knowledge and abilities of teachers in using appropriate digital technologies and resources to support the implementation of scientific inquiry in teaching. Teachers should bear in mind that the use of technology should assist students in constructing their understanding, rather than transmitting information to the students. Science teachers must learn how to foster technology-enhanced learning environments that promote scientific inquiry experiences among students, even if it is in a remote learning environment.
Virtual simulations can be beneficial in improving the delivery of science instruction amidst remote distance learning. Using teachers' TPACK, this educational technology tool is most effective when combined with appropriate content and pedagogy (e.g. inquiry-based learning. Virtual simulations are educational technology tools that allow students to directly visualize and connect the behavior of indirect macroscopic and microscopic phenomena. For example, PhET simulations provide animated, interactive, and game-like environments, which can be used in lectures and discussions, group activities, homework activities, and laboratory activities. Students can be introduced to a new topic, deepen their understanding, develop their skills, and reinforce their ideas.
As teachers in the 21st century, we must remember that mastering the subject is not enough. We must strive to enhance our pedagogical and technological knowledge and skill sets that are responsive to the students' current needs and interests.
References
https://blog.brainpop.com/remote-learning-experts-advice/
https://educationaltechnology.net/technological-pedagogical-content-knowledge-tpack-framework/
https://educators.brainpop.com/2016/06/24/phet-interactive-simulations/