The rapid growth of computers and innovative Internet technologies has aroused an interest in the area of technology integration in education. Indeed, Yurdakul et al. (2012) asserted that the trends within techno-centric integration focusing on required skills and knowledge in which teachers should gain to use various technologies have turned toward techno-pedagogical integration referring to put pedagogy and technology into practice in the technology integration process. The framework of Technological Pedagogical Content Knowledge (TPACK) is a tenet of the techno-pedagogical integration. Simply put, the TPACK has been defined as a framework of teacher knowledge for technology integration in education. The TPACK framework is consisted of three main components of teachers’ ICT integration knowledge. These main components are content knowledge (CK), pedagogical knowledge (PK), and technological knowledge (TK). Three other intermediary knowledge components which consist of connections among main components are technological content knowledge (TCK) – knowledge of subject matter representation with technology; technological pedagogical knowledge (TPK) – knowledge of using technology to implement different teaching methods; and pedagogical content knowledge (PCK) – knowledge of teaching methods with respect to subject matter content.  

Although many researches studies have been conducted to investigate teacher involvement and their TPACK development in ICT lesson design (Koh & Chai, 2014), the area remains under-researched, most notably integrating the development of the TPACK within entire teacher preparation programs (Mouza et al., 2014). Specifically, research studies in mathematics education have emphasized the importance of the exploration of the pre-service mathematics teachers’ TPACK as they designed or implemented a digital technology for teaching mathematics (e.g. graphing calculator, dynamic geometry software, and spreadsheet) (Ozgun-Koca, Meagher, & Edwards, 2011; Richardson, 2009). For instance, Ozgun-Koca, Meagher, and Edwards (2011) concluded that when pre-service teachers had opportunity to develop TPACK in a methods course they became more effective in enhancing students’ learning mathematics (especially algebra) and felt much better prepared to integrate technology into their mathematics teaching. Moreover, there is general agreement that both teachers and preservice teachers face challenges with the use of digital technologies to integrate their knowledge into mathematics teaching and to enhance student mathematical understanding. They need opportunities to acquire knowledge and experience in incorporating technology in the context of teaching and learning mathematics (Niess, 2006). 

The purpose of this study was to explore a group of middle school pre-service mathematics teachers’ TPACK gained throughout the mathematics teaching methods course. More specifically, this study aimed to examine whether there was a significant difference in the pre-service mathematics teachers' TPACK components for teaching algebra topics with design and development of digital textbooks offered in conjunction with the mathematics teaching methods course. Twenty pre-service mathematics teachers enrolled in the methods course and participated in a collaborative digital textbook design and development experiment during the spring semester of the 2013/2014 academic year in a state university in Turkey.  While the research context is Turkey, the findings of the study can be valuable both for European contexts as well as for international context considering that the national characteristics have an impact for rendering more precise information about TPACK.

Niess, M. L. (2006). Guest Editorial: Preparing teachers to teach mathematics with technology. Contemporary Issues in Technology and Teacher Education, 6(2), 195-203. Ozgun-Koca, A., Meagher, M., & Edwards, M. T. (2011). A teacher's journey with a new generation handheld: Decisions, struggles, and accomplishments. School, Science and Mathematics, 111 (5), 209-224 Richardson, S. (2009). Mathematics teachers’ development, exploration, and advancement of technological pedagogical content knowledge in the teaching and learning of algebra. Contemporary Issues in Technology and Teacher Education, 9(2), 117-130.