Designing a university seminar to professionalize prospective teachers for digitization in chemistry education

The legal obligation to implement digital tools in teaching and learning at all German schools poses a challenge to all teachers since the majority of teachers feel that they are not well enough prepared to meet the requirements. It is therefore of great importance to professionalize both teaching staff and prospective teachers for implementing digital tools effectively and appropriately. Therefore, within this project we develop and evaluate an innovative university seminar that aims at the professionalization of prospective teachers for digitization in chemistry education by providing the requisite skills. The study is an intervention study that tests the interventions’ effects by using repeated measures. In reference to the TPACK (technological pedagogical content knowledge) model, we explore the potential implications of the seminar to the future teachers’ teaching practices on the levels of self-efficacy, lesson planning and practical implementation. Consequently, this study does not only reflect one important area of teaching practice, but consists of a comprehensive analysis of TPACK knowledge. Additionally, the study also aims to determine potential implications for other teaching programs. The first results of the pilot study show that the seminar participants assess the seminar as very attractive. Moreover, the seminar participation led to a significant positive change regarding the prospective teachers’ attitudes towards the implementation of digital tools in chemistry lessons as well as their TPACK self-efficacy perceptions.