Cooking with TPACK

This week in CEP810, we discovered TPACK.  TPACK is a theory developed by Dr. Matthew Koehler and Dr. Punya Mishra from Michigan State University.  TPACK stands for the theory of technological, pedagogical and content knowledge.  It is a mouthful, I know.  So what does that really mean? It is taking our knowledge of technology, our knowledge of pedagogy, and our knowledge of the content we are teaching and using it to help our students learn better. TPACK is “pedagogical techniques that use technologies in constructive ways to teach content; knowledge of what makes concepts difficult or easy to learn and how technology can help redress some of the problems that students face” (Koehler, 2012).  TPACK does not require new, high-tech technologies.  Dr. Mishra talks about how a whiteboard is a piece of low-tech technology, but it still falls under the umbrella of TPACK.

Our assignment for class this week was to “cook” with TPACK.  We needed to have someone pick out a bowl, a plate, and a utensil without knowing the reason why.  Then we had to draw a number and each number corresponded with a cooking task.  My husband picked out a large watermelon bowl, a salad plate, and his favorite pair of tongs.  He drew number four which corresponded with making a peanut butter and jelly sandwich.  Take a look below to see how my sandwich turned out!

As you can see, I got pretty lucky with the tools I was given and the task I was given.  The most challenging part was spreading the peanut butter and then trying not to get peanut butter on me while scooping the jelly out of the jar.  If I had bread in the house, I think it would have been even harder.  As I mentioned in the video, the tortilla allowed for me to scrape the sandwich fillings off the tongs.

For “Cooking with TPACK,” I needed to use all the components of TPACK:  I had to make a peanut butter and jelly sandwich (content), in a different way than I originally learned (knowledge), and I had to film it (technology).   This is what teachers are constantly doing in our classrooms.  We are re-purposing our tools in different ways to suit our students’ needs.  We do this without thinking about it.  Just like I had to think quickly on how to use my tools to make my sandwich, we as teachers are constantly having to think on our feet when a lesson starts going sideways.  TPACK is at the core of what we do.

Koehler, M. (2012, September 24). TPACK.ORG. Retrieved October 14, 2018, from http://tpack.org/