Final Analysis
Framing Issues
My journey through ETEC 533, Technology in the Mathematics and Science Classroom, has been guided by one particular question, “what is good use of technology in science and mathematics education [?]”. This question has not only framed and encouraged my learning throughout this course, but has inspired me to think about my current use of technology in the classroom.
Initially, I felt that good use of technology in the classroom should lead students through a meaningful learning experience where their knowledge is acquired, built upon and used throughout life. Following interviews with colleagues, class discourse, and reflection on my own practice, I came to realize that good use of technology not only provides deep and meaningful learning, but engages, motivates, and opens the learning floor to as many participants as possible. Utilizing lessons that are relevant to my students’ lives can greatly increase their motivation to engage in the learning activity (Shostak, 2006).
With this framework in mind, the next phase was for me to enhance my own teaching practice through an investigation and acquisition of meaningful technology enhanced learning experiences.
Design
From this desire to learn about specific technological applications to inform my practice, I delved into a plethora of options that are available to create a meaningful learning environment for and with my students. I also began to work on a technology enhanced learning environment (TELE) with a design group, and began to adjust my current use of technology.
Our collaborative process within our class discourse, and within my design group, introduced many applications to me, but the Web-based Inquiry Science Environment (WISE) stood out as a promising platform. We decided as a group to implement WISE within our TELE design. The design itself promotes student ownership of learning and is congruent with my current use of assessment for learning (AFL) instructional practice. WISE utilizes the potential of the internet to engage students in a web-based inquiry approach to learning where learning becomes “visible” to peers, teacher, and self (Gobert, Snyder, & Houghton, 2002).
Emerging Issues
The final “Emergin Issues” phase of our learning path in ETEC 533 has led me through challenges and personal assumptions regarding actual social and cognitive affordances of technology use in science and mathematics education. Within my design group and through class discourse, I have come to realize that good TELE designs should encourage social construction of knowledge whereby students’ epistemic understandings are challenged and built upon through reflection on their own and each others’ learning.
Of particular relevance for me during this learning module was our “resource sharing” forum where we provided each other with internet based technological tools that can be utilized in instruction. I am overwhelmed by what has been supplied to me in this course from the instructor, the students, and in particular from my growing understanding of what is good use of technology in science and math.
Now, based on my refined idea of what is good use of technology, I feel empowered to choose those TELE designs that will best meet the social and cognitive needs of my students.
References
Gobert, J., Snyder, J., & Houghton, C. (2002, April). The influence of students’ understanding of models on model-based reasoning. Paper presented at the Annual Meeting of the American Educational Research Association (AERA), New Orleans, Louisiana. Retrieved February 23, 2009, from http://mtv.concord.org/publications/epistimology_paper.pdf 48
Shostak, R. (2006). Involving students in learning. In J. Cooper (Ed.), Classroom teaching skills (8th ed., pp. 79-103). Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company.
FRAMING ISSUES:
A REVIEW OF TECHNOLOGICAL APPLICATIONS TO INCREASE STUDENT MOTIVATION IN SCIENCE AND MATH
Good use of technology in a science and math classroom is any use of technology that can help a learner acquire, manage, and utilize information. We use technology to solve problems and ultimately manipulate nature to suit our needs. Children today are immersed in a technological world where the internet and digital environments are commonplace. This highly contextualized reality is something educators should be using to engage students’ motivation in learning. Utilizing lessons that are relevant to our students’ lives can greatly increase their motivation to engage in the learning activity (Shostak, 2006). This notion of relevancy is widely accepted in motivational instructional theory and digital technology is relevant to most of our students’ lives. The processes of science and math can be conceptually challenging for some students to adapt within their schema, and without proper motivation students may lose out on the many benefits science and math education can provide.
My pursuits leading to my claim that technology can motivate students to better learn science and math is based on my own experience as a learner in the classroom, my reflections as a science and math educator, and discourse with colleagues.
As a student in the 80’s my engagement with digital technology in the science and math classroom consisted of dated videos and notes delivered over an overhead projector. This technology had some utility in delivering information but did little to motivate me to learn. The hands-on activities such as dissections and chemistry experiments were the activities that I found engaging, but due to my lack of interest in class discourse, I was equipped with little prior knowledge to adequately reap the benefits from these activities. My interests were in music, music videos, video games, and socializing with my friends. Sitting behind a desk listening to a teacher lecture did little to inspire me to learn and perhaps instruction that bore more relevance to my life would have garnered greater significance.
I am a new teacher guided by the philosophy of open, discursive, inclusive, and holistic education. I believe that education should occur in an environment where all participants feel empowered to contribute. These types of environments are learner focused, safe and encouraging, and contain elements that are relevant to a student’s life. I utilize technology within my own practice as it provides me with a common language to converse with my students. The language is often contextualized to my students’ reality, therefore ensuring greater engagement. Various forms of using technology provide me with significant student engagement and these include: interactive Power Points, weblogs, digital video, graphics, animations, simulations and online games. As soon as one of these technologies becomes an aspect of the lesson my students attend more to the task. When my students become users of the technology our classroom environment becomes a community of learners where the learners are in control of their learning resulting in increased intrinsic motivation to learn. Technology has not replaced all traditional forms of teaching within my practice, but provides me with an engaging instructional tool that my students readily understand and enjoy.
I recently interviewed a grade six teacher, Mathew Summerskill, to gain further insight into my perceptions of good use of technology in the science and math classroom. Mathew’s experience using technology for science and math include: online surveys (e.g., ecological footprints), online math games, webquests, Power Points (student and teacher made), and computer generated illustrations and figures (student and teacher made). I asked Mathew how he measures the effectiveness of his use of technology in teaching and he replied, “[a]ny chance they have to use the computer they cheer” (personal communication, January 27, 2009). While a lot of his assessments and measurements regarding the effectiveness of technology are anecdotal, student motivation and engagement are evident. His experience reflects my own with technology where students are intrinsically motivated to learn.
My personal assumption that technology intrinsically motivates students to learn is grounded in my own learning experiences, experience within the classroom and mirrored reflections from a colleague. The purpose of the following review is to understand, exemplify, and critique current technological practices that claim to increase students’ motivation to learn, with a focus on science and math. My methodology is based on promising practices. It is not an attempt to review a comprehensive list of technologies that are used in science and math education. This review will compare an example of computer use that may adversely affect student achievement with the assumption that technology will enhance student achievement. This critique follows with a review of promising practices of technological use to increase student motivation and achievement in science and math.
Negative vs. Positive Effects of Technological Use
It is difficult to find studies that highlight a negative correlation of technological use in science and math education with student motivation; however there are studies that address the question of whether technology can adversely effect student achievement. Elena Papanastasiou, et al (2003), were surprised at the finding of the TIMSS (Third International Mathematics and Science Study) which published findings indicating a correlation of computer use in the classroom and poor student achievement in scientific literacy. For comparison, Papanastasiou and her colleagues compared 15 year old USA students’ scientific assessment results from the Program for International Student Assessment (PISA). Their findings indicate comparative results to TIMSS where computer use in the classroom to support learning in science is negatively correlated to achievement in scientific literacy. Despite their comparative result to TIMSS, Papanastasiou et al’s analysis of PISA’s data indicates that students who are conversant with computers (i.e., home use), have greater scientific literacy assessment scores.
Papanastasiou et al’s analysis and conclusion is based on statistical analysis used on PISA’s data and are not the result of experimental design, so there is no direct evidence of causation where computer use in the classroom adversely affects student achievement in scientific literacy. Papanastasiou et al also suggest that both TIMSS’s results and their own might be an outcome of teachers utilizing computer technology with lower achieving students more often. Many computer and internet based technologies are used in the classroom with the intention of supporting learners who may require significant adaptations and modifications. These technologies often provide immediate feedback for students when teachers are not readily available (Papanastasiou, Zembylas, & Vrasidas, 2003).
Papanastasiou et al’s suggestion that lower achieving students may be utilizing computers more often than higher achieving students is a sound assumption considering the vast amount of educational technologies that are available to support learners with exceptional needs. I have assisted people with exceptional needs as a support worker, teaching assistant, life skills couch, and now as a teacher. I understand and have witnessed the utility in using computers to support special needs and often utilize computers in the classroom to address student’s exceptionalities. This negative correlation that Papanastasiou et al have highlighted regarding classroom computer use and scientific literacy achievement may have little significance in light of the substantial evidence that supports student motivation and achievement from the direct use of technology in science and math education.
Promising Applications of Technology to Increase Student Motivation
My experience as a student in the science and math classroom comprises a learning environment inundated with direct instruction and educational technologies including overhead projectors and dated videos. While digital technologies did not occupy as much of my time as it does for students of today, I was keenly tuned into music videos and arcade games. The institutionalized pedagogical instruction that was popular during this time bore little relevance to my life, and offered little to motivate me to learn. Today our students know and understand a digital world where cell phones, I Pods, video games, computer applications, satellite technologies, etc., are standard artefacts in their lives. These interests are being used by educators and are resulting in greater intrinsic student motivation to learn.
Many children and youth pass their time playing video games on various mediums of computer hardware (i.e., X-Box, Wii, Playstation, etc.). Video game technology is a multi-billion dollar industry and has garnered great interest from educational researchers. Michele Dickey (2007) provides a review of how the design of MMORPGs (massively multiple online role-playing games) can be used to encourage students’ intrinsic motivation to learn. Dickey showcases how aspects of role-playing game design can be utilized and related to educational technologies designed to foster student motivation. While Dickey’s study is based on conjectural analysis, she adequately relates the motivational aspects of games design to prospects for educational purpose. When immersed in role-playing games, youth are motivated by the aspects of choice, control, collaboration, challenge, instant feedback and achievement; characters that have shown the ability to increase student motivation to learn (Dickey, 2007).
Alaa Sadik (2008) conducted a qualitative case study analysing how digital storytelling may assist Egyptian teachers to engage and create meaningful lessons through digital technology. Sadik’s study analyzes students’ use of MS Photo Story for the creation of their own digital stories that are applicable to Egyptian curriculum learning outcomes. MS Photo Story is a computer application that allows a user to create photo slideshows showcasing personal stories with added effects including sound, narration, titles, and captions. Sadik concludes that students are engaged in critical thinking and empowered to create their own interpretations of factual events (Sadik, 2008). While Sadik’s study is of Egyptian students, parallels can easily be drawn to North American learners. Storytelling is a way for societies to pass on knowledge and ways of being. Aboriginal nations have utilized this practice since time immemorial for the dissemination of traditional knowledge. Coupling the use of technology and storytelling through MS Photo Story is an excellent relational method to engage student interest.
Both of these examples showcase how technology use can engage and motivate students to learn. The examples highlight how inherent motivational qualities of people including choice, control, and expression are incorporated within educational technologies. These examples highlight role-playing games and MS Photo Story; digital technologies that have great promise in math and science education.
Promising Practices in Math and Science Education
Considering the wide-spread use of video games by children and youth, instructional research has put great focus on how technological games can be incorporated into the classroom. Based on relevance, games might encourage students to use the technology, but the question remains: does this engagement warrant their use in education?
Fengfeng Ke (Ke, 2008) conducted a study in Pennsylvania, USA to determine how gameplay will affect 4th and 5th grade students’ cognitive achievement, metacognitive awareness, and attitudes related to mathematics education. While Ke’s study is essentially a qualitative case study analysis, mixed methodology was utilized incorporating a quantitative focus. The choice of games ranged from drill and practice to role play, and focussed on the following math skills: measurement, analyzing whole numbers, equations, and line coordinates. Ke’s resulting analysis states that there is no significant increase in cognitive achievement or metacognitive awareness from the five week trial, but that students demonstrate increase in positive attitude towards mathematics learning from all aspects of gameplay including drill and practice (Ke, 2008). While Ke’s analysis of gameplay technology in mathematics education does not demonstrate achievement and metacognitive awareness, it does affirm the notion that technology will increase students’ motivation to learn. Considering that the unmotivated learner may not engage in classroom learning at all, Ke’s case study provides solid evidence that those apprehensive learners may be included in a learning environment through the use of gameplay technologies.
During my interview with Mathew Summerskill, a grade six teacher in British Columbia, Mathew discussed how he felt the use of technological gameplay in math greatly increases student motivation to learn (personal communication, January 27, 2009). He uses an online application entitled Fraction Hunt where students not only utilize gameplay to learn fractions, but present their learning to each other. His students must utilize the laptop and attached projector to play the Fraction Hunt game while their peers act as an audience and evaluator of the game. His students enjoy using the program and emanate pride when presenting their achievements to their peers. This example of technological exemplifies how good use of technology can not only motivate students to learn, but empower them to control aspects of the learning environment.
Digital game-based learning has also been analysed for its utility in computer science education. Marina Papastergiou (2009) analysed the impact of game-based technology on learning and motivation in high school computer science education. Papastergiou’s study of 88 16-17 year old students in Greece compares the use of two computer based learning technologies effect on student learning and motivation. Both technologies utilized identical learning outcomes and materials, but only one focussed on gameplay. Papastergiou perused Computer Memory Knowledge Tests (CBKT) and feedback questionnaires to determine the effectiveness of the two computer based learning technologies. The analysis and resulting conclusion both affirm that the game-based computer application has the greatest effect on student knowledge acquisition and motivation (Papastergiou, 2009).
Papastergiou’s analysis compares two different approaches of computer applications to support computer science education. While this comparison does not relate technology use in teaching to traditional means, it highlights how important relevancy is in students lives. Game-play technology speaks to youth and can be utilized successfully to increase motivation, learning and engagement in science and technology.
Conclusion
My belief is that good use of technology in the science and math classroom engages, entices, and includes most learners. My experience as an educator exemplifies how good use of technology encourages learning discourse within the classroom. Following conversation with colleagues and subsequent review of literature, the positive impact digital technology can have on student learning and motivation is apparent. My purpose now is to peruse technological applications for their merit in fostering a meaningful learning experience.
Dickey, M. (2007). Game design and learning: A conjectural analysis of how massively multiple online role-playing games (MMORPGs) foster intrinsic motivation [Electronic version]. Education Tech Research Dev, 55. 253-273.
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Ke, F. (2008). A case study of computer gaming for math: Engaged learning from gameplay? [Electronic version]. Computers & Education, 51. 1609-1620.
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Papanastasiou, E., Zembylas, M., & Vrasidas, C. (2003). Can computer use hurt science achievement? The USA results from PISA [Electronic version]. Journal of Science Education and Technology, 12(3), 325-332.
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Papastergiou, M. (2009). Digital game-based learning in high school computer science education: Impact on educational effectiveness and student motivation [Electronic version]. Computers & Educaton, 55. 1-12.
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Sadik, A. (2008). Digital Storytelling: a meaningful technology-integrated approach for engaged student learning [Electronic version]. Education Tech Research Dev, 56. 487-506.
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Shostak, R. (2006). Involving students in learning. In J. Cooper (Ed.), Classroom teaching skills (8th ed., pp. 79-103). Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company. 15
