A Second Life experiment in sex education with pre-service teachers and its contribution to the development of their proto-TPACK

Abstract

This paper reports research into how pre-service teachers’ experiences of using Second Life (SL) in a course about sex education, and how projections about the use of virtual environments like SL in their future teaching, contributed to the development of their proto-TPACK (Technological Pedagogical and Content Knowledge). Data collected consists of empathy-based stories and reflective discussions. Results suggest that despite challenges with the technology, the pre-service teachers offered insightful reflections on their use of SL in learning and ICT in education generally from different components of the TPACK frame, especially technological knowledge and technological pedagogical knowledge. However, the experience of using SL did little to extend their content knowledge (of sex education).