In today’s digitalized society the potential of digital technologies and how to use these to support learning has increasingly become a focus of research. Since preschool children’s use of ICT is continuously increasing, more interest is also being paid to the question of how ICT can be used for pedagogical purposes in preschools, although research in this area is still limited (Sandvik, Smørdal & Østerud 2012). The use of ICT in preschools is itself a controversial matter. Earlier research has questioned whether young children should be subjected to ICT (Straker et al 2009; Kalas 2010). A growing number of studies, however, identify the potential of ICT as a tool for learning in preschools when the use of ICT is based on pedagogical principles and supports learning of an intended content (McCarrick & Li 2007; McKenney & Voogt 2009). In other words, if ICT is to be used to create a pedagogical added value in preschools, preschool teachers must develop an ability to integrate pedagogical knowledge, content knowledge and technological knowledge.

The aim of this study is to examine what kind of added pedagogical value pre-service preschool teachers think educational technologies can bring to preschools and to analyze their oral, written and practical digital examples and presentations of such added value through the lenses of the theoretical framework of Technological Pedagogical Content Knowledge (TPACK).

Mishra and Koehler (2008) has built on Shulman’s (1986) pedagogical content knowledge (PCK) to create a conceptual framework that also includes technological knowledge and the ability to successfully integrate this with their pedagogical knowledge and content knowledge. They label their conceptual framework Technological Pedagogical Content Knowledge (TPACK). The TPACK framework has proven useful as a tool for describing the type of knowledge required by teachers for successful technology integration (Voogt et al 2012).  A teacher that possesses TPACK knows how to successfully integrate ICT in their practice to create an added pedagogical value. Thus, looking for signs of TPACK means looking for signs of successful technology integration. Hence there are a number of studies that try to measure teachers’ or student teachers’ TPACK with the intention of identifying successful ICT integration (Angeli & Valanides 2009; Kramarski & Michalsky 2010). In this study the theoretical framework TPACK is used to analyze preschool teacher students’ oral presentations, written texts and digital examples of ICT use for added value in preschools.

The following research questions have been formulated: - What types of arguments did the preschool teacher students present to support or questions the use of ICT to create added pedagogical value in preschools? - What types of examples were given of successful ICT use for added pedagogical value in preschools by the preschool teacher students in their written documentation? - To what extent do the preschool teacher students’ practical digital examples show signs of added pedagogical value by successful ICT integration (i.e. to what extent do the preschool teacher students’ digital examples show signs of TPACK or other subdomains in the TPACK framework)