examined technology integration in a social studies methods course. The following research
questions guided the study: (a) What are the perceptions of elementary, pre-service teacher
candidates of the integration of technology in a social studies methods courses? (b) To what
degree, if any, do pre-service teachers recognize their TPACK when utilizing the Timeliner
software? The TPACK theoretical lens helped to shape the hypothesis of this mixed-methods
study.
The hypothesis that guided this study was: pre-service teachers will develop social
studies TPACK curricula when provided opportunities to plan, organize, implement, and assess
the integration of social studies instructional technology. In order to explore the hypothesis, the
researcher combined qualitative and quantitative research paradigms in a mixed-methods
approach. The quantitative data allowed some generalizations to be drawn about pre-service
teacher perceptions relative to the integration of social studies instructional technology. By
using the participants’ own language and artifacts, the qualitative data provided rich descriptions
of the emergent themes. The data for both the quantitative and qualitative analyses were drawn
from the same convenience sample. The participants in this mixed-methods study were 25 preservice
teachers at the senior undergraduate level (N = 25). The participants were part of a
section of an elementary social studies methods course at a large, Midwestern university.