The Views of Pre-service Elementary Mathematics Teachers on the Use of Interactive White Boards in Elementary Mathematics Courses

Author(s):

Merve Koştur(presenting / submitting)

Conference:

ECER 2015

Network:

Emerging Researchers' Group (for presentation at Emerging Researchers' Conference)

Format:

Paper

Session Information

ERG SES G 02, ICT and Education

Paper Session

Time:

2015-09-08

09:00-10:30

Room:

303. [Main]

Chair:

Shosh Leshem

Contribution

Consideration of the need for educational technologies is an integral part of the educational process identified by the educational principals in all over the world (Holmes, 2009) for complete understanding of mathematics. In most instances, the information and communication technology (ICT) tools are found to be appropriate for the teaching of mathematics for students who have problems in understanding mathematical concepts. Among these tools, interactive whiteboard (IWB) use has been encouraged by the Ministry of National Education (MoNE)(2012) in Turkey recently.

The recent studies on IWB use address practices that can help educators transfer teaching and learning of mathematics from one setting to another, in different levels and various mathematical subjects. Research showed that the appropriate use of the IWB promotes increased classroom interactions, IWBs motivate the students, and engage them with the teaching and learning process. It is important to find supportive and/or opposite cases in different education systems in order to confirm and develop that IWB use is a further more than a white board. This study aimed at gaining insights into pre-service elementary mathematics teachers’ perspectives in the teaching and learning of mathematics using the IWB technology. Although IWB is considered at all stages of the education, the consideration of the present study is specific to its use in elementary education for grades 4 to 8. The following research questions were addressed in the study.

1. How do teachers perceive mathematics and technology integration?

2. What are the views of pre-service elementary mathematics teachers on the use of interactive whiteboards in mathematics teaching?

3. What are the subject preferences of pre-service elementary mathematics teachers in terms of a mathematics concept to be taught by interactive whiteboards?

Method

The participants were the 4th year students of elementary mathematics education program at faculty of education in a private university in Turkey. The study took place in the scope of School Experience course and lasted in 4 weeks of a data collection process. During the development of the mathematical tasks, 20 pre-service elementary mathematics teachers worked in pairs. They were directed to use a collaborative decision-making process. That is, firstly, they considered possible student needs for mathematical support in that specific concept. Secondly, they were asked to decide upon the concept which they would like to assist with IWBs in order to meet the elementary students’ needs. Participants were observed during the lessons in the classroom in their 4-week long study. In the last week, they presented the activities prepared with IWBs and shared their experiences with their classmates. After preparing tasks supported with IWBs, participants worked with elementary level students –grades 4 to 8 – in an elementary school. They got feedback from elementary students which provided them to experience their tasks in the field. Afterwards, semi-structured interviews were carried out with each pair of the participants. The interview questions and several follow up questions focused on the reasons of participants’ subject choice, their view on IWB qualifications, and their recommendations for classroom use. Data obtained from the observations and interviews will be triangulated to obtain a complete and detailed explanation of pre-service elementary mathematics teachers’ case.

Expected Outcomes

Throughout the study, the reasons for the decisions and recommendations of pre-service elementary mathematics teachers were investigated in detail. The final results of the study have not been obtained yet since the data is still in the analysis process. The outcomes are expected to match with the recent studies in the related field. Moreover, it is believed to obtain results that would provide to compare Turkey case with other cases from all over the world. The study is limited to IWB use in assisting mathematics courses with technology. Yet, future research is recommended to focus on other assistive ICTs in mathematics education. Further research may include data from other ICT tools, support evidence by providing differences in pre-service teachers’ preferences for IWB use.

References

Beauchamp, G., & Parkinson, J. (2005). Beyond the ‘wow’factor: developing interactivity with the interactive whiteboard. School Science Review, 86(316), 97-103. Cuthell, P. J. (2003). Interactive Whiteboards: new tools, new pedagogies, new learning? Some views from practitioners. Retrieved March, 11, 2011. Digregorio, P., & Sobel-Lojeski, K. (2009). The effects of interactive whiteboards (IWBs) on student performance and learning: A literature review. Journal of Educational Technology Systems, 38(3), 255-312. Higgins, S., Beauchamp, G., & Miller, D. (2007). Reviewing the literature on interactive whiteboards. Learning, Media and technology, 32(3), 213-225. Holmes, K. (2009). Planning to teach with digital tools: Introducing the interactive whiteboard to pre-service secondary mathematics teachers. Australasian Journal of Educational Technology, 25(3). Smith, H. J., Higgins, S., Wall, K., & Miller, J. (2005). Interactive whiteboards: boon or bandwagon? A critical review of the literature. Journal of Computer Assisted Learning, 21(2), 91-101. Somyürek, S., Atasoy, B., & Özdemir, S. (2009). Board’s IQ: What makes a board smart?. Computers & Education, 53(2), 368-374. Turel, Y. (2010, March). Developing teachers’ utilization of interactive whiteboards. In Society for Information Technology & Teacher Education International Conference (Vol. 2010, No. 1, pp. 3049-3054). Türel, Y. K., & Demirli, C. (2010). Instructional interactive whiteboard materials: Designers’ perspectives. Procedia-Social and Behavioral Sciences, 9, 1437-1442. Wood, R., & Ashfield, J. (2008). The use of the interactive whiteboard for creative teaching and learning in literacy and mathematics: A case study. British journal of educational technology, 39(1), 84-96.

Author Information

Merve Koştur (presenting / submitting)

Başkent University

Elementary Education

Ankara

Search the ECER Programme

Search for keywords and phrases in "Text Search"
Restrict in which part of the abstracts to search in "Where to search"
Search for authors and in the respective field.
For planning your conference attendance you may want to use the conference app, which will be issued some weeks before the conference
If you are a session chair, best look up your chairing duties in the conference system (Conftool) or the app.