Discussion and Recommendations
It is easy to wonder how many pre-service teachers associate social studies with just a lot
of book knowledge. Many pre-service teachers are considered digital natives as they have been
reared in the Information Age where activities such as tweeting and texting are commonplace.
This study’s findings, however, show many of these same digital natives are bewildered about
ways to integrate social studies content and pedagogical knowledge with their technological
understandings. They need TPACK without knowing it. They need the framework that TPACK
offers about how to merge their technological know-how with what they teach and how they
teach it. The study uncovered how pre-service teachers often separate technological and
pedagogical knowledge when working on a social studies activity.The study also suggests many
Social Studies Research and Practice
www.socstrp.org
Volume 9 Number 3 112 Winter 2014
pre-service teachers may be at a beginning level of technological knowledge as it relates to
TPACK.