Pre‐service secondary mathematics teachers’ beliefs about the nature of technology in the classroom

Abstract

This study investigated pre‐service secondary mathematics teachers’ (PSTs) beliefs about teaching mathematics with technology, the experiences in which those beliefs were grounded, and the organizational structure of those beliefs. In particular, this article reports on research that was designed to investigate questions beyond that of whether technology can profitably be used before mathematical content has been mastered (the question about technology most commonly reported in the literature). Beliefs were defined as dispositions to act and were viewed through what is referred to as the sensible system framework. Through the qualitative research methodology called grounded theory, four PSTs were purposefully selected and studied. The primary dimensions of the PSTs’ core beliefs with respect to technology, referred to as their beliefs about the nature of technology in the classroom, were beliefs about the availability of technology, about the purposeful use of technology, and about the importance of teacher knowledge of technology.     

Real‐world problems: A judgment call for middle school mathematics teachers

A.C. Barton &; M.D. Osborne, (2001). Teaching Science in Diverse Settings: Marginalized Discourses and Classroom Practice. New York: Peter Lang. ISBN 1058–1634     

Junior secondary science teachers’ understanding and practice of alternative assessment in Hong Kong: Implications for teacher professional development

Abstract:

Traditionally, teachers in Hong Kong schools have used formal tests and examinations to generate summative assessment data for rank ordering students. However, recent education reform, supported by research on science learning, has led to a demand for profound changes in assessment practices, including the adoption of methods novel to many teachers. This paper explores the views of junior secondary science teachers regarding the implementation of alternative assessment tasks in science classes and provides insight into the type and level of support required to facilitate the recommended changes. The findings have implications for the prospects of shifting the current culture of science assessment in Hong Kong and elsewhere. The paper concludes with concrete recommendations for supporting teachers in achieving changes in their assessment practices.     

Posture analysis among Flemish secondary school teachers: difference between the use of chalkboards and electronic school boards during classroom teaching

The aim of this study was to (i) make a posture analysis of teachers during theoretical classroom teaching; (ii) to estimate the risk for the development of musculoskeletal problems (MSP); (iii) test the hypotheses that an electronic school board (EB) has more ergonomic advantages for teachers. Thirty-five secondary school teachers, of which 15 used an EB and 20 used chalkboards, were selected by convenience sampling and filmed during 30 min of a theoretical course. Posture analysis of back, arms, legs and risk assessment was performed using the Ovako Working Posture Analysis System. Most of the teachers’ postures did not indicate a higher risk for MSP. However, some postures may be harmful when accumulated for several hours of teaching a day; especially, long periods of standing and standing with a bended back. Results also indicated that currently the use of an EB does not improve teachers’ posture.

Practitioner Summary: The relationship between objectively measured physical work load and risk for injuries among teachers was not analysed so far. In this study teachers’ posture was analysed using the OWAS method. Prolonged standing and forward bending were identified as risk postures. Also, using an electronic school board currently does not improve posture.     

Case Study of Developing Gear Pump Design System with SolidEdge

Part and Draft modules of SolidEdge are used to construct 3D solid models and generate part drawings, while ActiveX Automation of VB is used to access engineering database files to realize dimension-driven modification of the designed parts. Moreover, VB plays the enabling role of integrating all work processes of gear pump design, resulting in a comprehensive CAD system.1 Introduction SolidEdge is a 3D parametric design systemdeveloped by Intergraph and now acquired by UGSin U.S. It …     

The Electronic Record in the school–family relationship: perceptions of teachers and guardians

Universal Access in the Information Society - This paper presents the first stage of an investigative work, the purpose of which is to introduce a new form of communication between schools and...     

Pre-service teachers’ behavioral intention to make educational animated movies and their experiences

Educational animated movies are one of the most entertainment format to deliver any educational messages. These movies can be used a wide range of educational subject areas such as science, engineering and daily life skills procedures. The purpose of this study is to determine the behavioral intention of pre-service teachers while preparing educational animated movies, the factors influencing such behavioral intention, and their experiences. The sample consists of 98 (52 males and 46 females) pre-service teachers studying Department of Computer Education and Instructional Technology. As data collection tools, two different scales were used in order to determine the levels of attitude of the pre-service teachers towards making animated movies and their experiences such as their cooperative communication levels, levels of enjoyment and having difficulty. They prepared the animated movies for class use during five weeks. According to the findings, they were willing to make animated movies in their future lessons. In addition, they enjoyed it, did not experience much difficulty, and engaged in cooperative communication with one another. Performance expectancy was seen to have the highest mean and to have a significant influence on behavioral intention. This research is significant because process of preparing movies is easy and achievable and thus encourages all branch teachers to use this technology in their lessons.     

Student trajectories in high school mathematics: Issues of choice,support, and identity‐making

Abstract

This study explores the range of experiences students have when making two kinds of decisions in relation to high school mathematics courses: what course to take, and how to and how much to apply themselves. Looking at the choices of students about to enter Grade 10, the first decision is their choice of courses. In mathematics, students leaving Grade 9 selected one course (usually), from five possibilities, for their Grade 10 year: an advanced‐placement Honours stream, an academic course with a traditional symbol‐manipulation approach, an academic course with a technology‐based applications approach, a non‐academic mathematics‐for‐citizenship course, and (as an imposed choice) repeating the Grade 9 mathematics course. The second point of decision‐making occurred within their mathematics and science courses—students constantly made choices about how, and how much, to apply themselves to the challenges of succeeding in the courses they had chosen. These students’ course choices, to a considerable extent, conformed to expectations based on the influence of socioeconomic status and prior achievement. Overwhelmingly, students were concerned more in the credentialing value of courses than their educational value or structural nature. Within their courses, most students focused their attention on doing the work rather than the content or the learning process. Students reported being encouraged to do their work by teachers, but could not provide any indication of tactical support with becoming effective learners. The final outcomes of the students’ marks suggest that, in the context of the study, Grade 10 mathematics courses are much more effective as gate‐keeping mechanisms than as opportunities for students to improve and succeed.     

Examining teacher growth in professional learning groups for in‐service teachers of mathematics

Abstract

Teachers may face important challenges when encouraged to improve their mathematics teaching. Their personal beliefs, knowledge, confidence and personal intentions towards growth and change are all complex factors which may influence teachers’ capacity, and their decisions about personal change in their teaching. In this study, intermediate teachers and the conversations that took place during their monthly Professional Learning Group meetings over a one‐year period were examined in order to better understand issues teachers face in their growth and development as teachers of mathematics. We critically examine the notion and meaning of success to different stakeholders.     

Web-based self- and peer-assessment of teachers’ digital competencies

Although there exist several alternative frameworks and standards for describing the digital competencies expected from teachers, there is a lack of Web-based assessment tools that allow authentic, reliable and valid assessment of these competencies. This paper addresses the design challenges related to a software solution for self- and peer-assessment of teachers’ digital competencies. The empirical part of the paper describes the participatory design process and results from the first user testing of a Web-based self- and peer-assessment tool DigiMina, which supports teachers in building and sharing a personal competency profile. In DigiMina, the competencies are assessed by a teacher herself or by her peers using the performance indicators that are based on the competency model NETS for Teachers created by the International Society of Technology in Education.     

Assessing high school students’ understanding of geometric proof

Résumé:

Le Ministère de l'Éducation du Québec (MEQ) propose actuellement de nouveaux programmes d'études. La dernière version de ceux‐ci pour le premier cycle de l'école primaire a été soumis à la Commission Nationale des Programmes qui, malgré quelques réserves sur la présentation, n'a pas émis d'objections majeures à leur implantation dès l'automne 2000. Le discours de ces programmes nous semble toutefois comporter des lacunes importantes. Ainsi, à l'analyse, on peut noter un décalage épistémologique entre le discours sur la cognition et le format des programmes ancré dans une tradition positiviste du savoir ; une incohérence qui résulte de l'usage simultané de discours sur la cognition liés à des paradigmes incompatibles (socioconstructivisme et cognitivisme) ; la réduction dans ce même discours du statut conceptuel de la notion de compétence à celui d'objectif pédagogique. Ce sont là des obstacles sérieux à une véritable intégration de la perspective constructiviste dans les pratiques pédagogiques.     

Pre‐service teachers’ understanding and teaching of nature of science: An intervention study

Abstract:

This study is the third in a line of investigations that examines pre‐service teachers’ conceptions of nature of science (NOS) and the translation of those conceptions into classroom practice. The purpose of the present study was to delineate the effectiveness of an intervention designed to facilitate pre‐service teachers’ inclusion of NOS in their classroom teaching. Four factors were identified as most influential in participants’ teaching efforts: (1) knowledge of NOS, (2) knowledge of subject matter, (3) pedagogical knowledge, and (4) intentions towards teaching NOS. Intentions were the most critical factor. Participants, regardless of NOS views or science background, did not teach in accordance with their NOS views if they had not internalized the importance of teaching NOS. Those with strong intentions to address NOS explicitly were more successful. Those participants with strong intentions, well‐developed NOS views, and extensive knowledge of science content were most successful in their instruction. Implications for the development of pedagogical content knowledge for NOS are discussed.     

Mixed reality experiences in museums: Exploring the impact of functional elements of the devices on visitors’ immersive experiences and post-experience behaviours

This paper contributes to the debate on MR technology in the museum setting by investigating how and to what extent functional elements of the MR devices affect experiences and drive post-experience behaviours. It bridges several research gaps in MR investigation, demonstrating unexplored causal relationships between the functionality of MR devices and museum experiences and post-experience behaviours, which have been investigated separately. The research confirms that MR advances empower the museum's mission of heritage valorisation and education, which drive new immersive experiences and behaviours. It introduces insights to overcome technological limitations as a challenge for practitioners as well as a flourishing area of investigation.     

Rating reflection on experience: A case study of teachers’ and tutors’ reflection around images

Reflection on personal experience is described as a means to learn from experience, enable self-development and improve professional practice amongst other things. Recently there has been a move in HCI to explore new ways technology may support us in doing this. However, within this community there is little use made of existing literature to evaluate how well such tools support this reflection. In this paper we present a case study of the development of a ‘levels of reflection’ framework for the purposes of evaluating a wearable digital camera (SenseCam) to support teachers’ and tutors’ reflective practice. The framework enabled us to rate and compare reflection achieved by participants in different situations, and to explore the relationship between the ways images were used by participants and the level of reflection this led to, with implications for designing future SenseCam use to better support teachers’ and tutors’ reflection on experience. Beyond our particular case study, we suggest that the framework and associated methodological approach for rating reflection is of value to those within the HCI community interested in designing for reflection on experience. Rating reflection in this way can enable new tools or techniques for supporting reflection to be explored over time, across similar situations or with adaptations, and to build understandings of how reflection is being most effectively supported – ultimately inspiring the design of future technologies by building up an understanding of the most effective ways of supporting reflection on experience.     

Exploring users’ experiences of using personal cloud storage services: a phenomenological study

Recently, cloud computing has attracted great attention for both personal and organisational usages. Despite a large number of research conducted about cloud adoption, little is known about how users practically experienced the usage and adoption of Personal Could Storage Service (PCSSs) particularly in the context of developing countries. To address this gap, this paper seeks a clear understanding of how participants have profoundly experienced and perceived PCSSs to obtain worthwhile insights towards the essence of PCSSs’ adoption as a multifaceted phenomenon. Applying the interpretive phenomenology as a research method, required data were collected by conducting semi-structured interviews with 12 experienced participants. The results reveal that users’ intentions to adopt PCSSs are highly influenced by three emerged themes, including demand-side factors, supply-side factors, and institutional factors. Concerning the demand-side factors, the paper demonstrates how user-centric aspects work in favour of PCSSs’ adoption. As to the supply-side factors, this research promotes an understanding of how the participants have perceived tangible and non-tangible features of PCSSs as a determinant of the adoption. Regarding the formal and informal institutions, remarkable roles of regulatory environments and culture are highlighted, respectively. The theoretical and practical implications of this study are discussed for both academia and practitioners.     

The promise,reality and dilemmas of secondary school teacher–student interactions in Facebook: The teacher perspective

We report on a multi-method study that seeks to explore if, how and why secondary teachers use Facebook (FB) to interact with their students. Issues of privacy, authority, and even abuse have fueled socio-political debates on the desirability of teacher–student FB contact, leading some authorities to curtail or even prohibit such contact. Proponents of harnessing Web 2.0 and Social media technology for learning purposes, on the other hand, have emphasized the many potential advantages for formal and informal learning. However, there is little empirical research on the scope, the nature and the purposes for secondary school teacher–student contact through social network sites. The present study makes a first step in this direction, by triangulating teacher survey data (N = 187) with in-depth teacher interviews (N = 11). Findings from both data sets show that teacher–student FB contact comes in different forms and serves a range of purposes, which fall into three main categories: Academic-instructional, psycho-pedagogical and social-relational. Advantages, dilemmas and limitations of FB contact with secondary school students are identified.     

Extending family to school life: College students’ use of the mobile phone

The current study seeks to understand if there is a pattern between college students’ mobile phone usage and their family members at home, and to what degree it affects their college life. Three focus group interviews were conducted on February 1, February 2, and February 15, 2006. A total of 40 undergraduate students who were majoring in communication studies participated in the study. One of the main findings is that the mobile phone is “a must” for college students to keep in contact with their family. Other findings suggest that college students use mobile phones to have more frequent contact with their family and to fulfill family roles. College students also utilize mobile phones to share experiences and emotional and physical support with their parents.     

An investigation of teachers’ beliefs and their use of technology-based assessments

The purpose of this study was to explore teachers’ beliefs about technology-based assessments (TBAs) and investigate the possible interplay between their beliefs and their usage of TBAs in classrooms. Forty technology-experienced science teachers participated in the study. Their beliefs about and use of TBAs were examined using semi-structured interviews, which were analyzed based on a coding scheme adapted from the decomposed theory of planned behavior (DTPB) model (Taylor & Todd, 1995). The analysis showed that ten components were substantial in the behavioral, control, and normative beliefs. While 85% teachers (34 out of 40) perceived TBAs as useful tools and identified a variety of usefulness, nearly 40% of the participants indicated the difficulties in using TBAs and their beliefs of ease of use were mainly negative. Also, teachers’ control beliefs about TBA focused on the social and external components such as time, supporting personnel, and infrastructure rather than the personal factors. In their normative beliefs, teachers tended to view school policies and parents’ opinions as constraints, whereas they also realized the benefits of using TBAs for learning. Furthermore, three groups of teachers were identified and characterized based on their usage of TBAs. Although some frequent users did not teach in resource-rich schools and faced constraints similar to those encountered by the occasional users, they seemed to actively look for more supports and solutions to overcome the lack of resources and the disapproval from the school administration. The findings extend the DTPB model of technology users by adding important beliefs about teaching and learning.     

Average Case Analysis of Moore’s State Minimization Algorithm

We prove that the average complexity of Moore’s state minimization algorithm is $\mathcal {O}(kn\log n)$ , where n is the number of states of the input and k the size of the alphabet. This result holds for a whole family of probabilistic models on automata, including the uniform distribution over deterministic and accessible automata, as well as uniform distributions over classical subclasses, such as complete automata, acyclic automata, automata where each state is final with probability γ∈(0,1), and many other variations.