Problems in Education - Research Paper Example

? Problems in Education This paper will show how technology positively affects the learning of 8th Grade Mathematics. Theclasses involved all follow Tennessee State standards when it comes to learning mathematics. Keywords: Mathematics, Tennessee, technology Table of Contents Lists of Tables, Figures Etc. 4 Chapter 1: Introduction to the study 5 Introduction 5 Statement of Problem 5 Purpose of the Study 6 Importance of the Study 6 Definition of Terms 7 Procedures Used 7 Chapter 2: Review of Related Literature 8 Chapter 3: Presentation and Analysis of the Data 12 Chapter 4: Findings, Conclusion, and Recommendations 15 Introduction 15 Findings 15 Conclusions 15 Recommendations 16 Bibliography 17 Appendix 19 Copy of Survey Instrument 19 Any Other necessary Information List of Tables, Figures, etc. Table 1: Data Scores Figure 1: How Technology Affects Learning – Full Class Figure 2: How Technology Affects Learning – Boys vs. Girls Table 2: Descriptive Statistics Chapter 1: Introduction to the Study Introduction This study was done over a 10 week period, in one Tennessee middle school. This study exams all the students taught by one teacher. This one teacher began with a pretest before beginning the study. Then, at the end of the observational study, he retested these students to see whether or not the technology used improved their scores. The teacher used an interactive whiteboard to help him interact with content projected from a computer screen onto a whiteboard surface. Virtually anything that can be done on a computer can be done on an interactive whiteboard, and having the advantage that interaction involves fingers and pens and so is more kinesthetic, drawing, marking and highlighting of any computer-based output is supported, a whole class can follow interactions allowing lessons to be saved and replayed. (Swan, Schenker & Kratcoski) Many research studies, furthermore, have noted that use of whiteboards shifts instruction from presentation to interaction and students’ focus away from teachers and onto content making interactive whiteboard lessons more student-centered than traditional ones. Thus, the teachers go from being teachers to classroom coaches allowing the students to use their brains to come up with the answers to the questions on their own. Statement of the Problem The problem in the United States is that students studying mathematics are far behind those of most other industrialized nations, there are only a few which are the same or worse off than the United States. Thus, the United States has to find a way to improve its overall scores. And back in 1998, the Clinton administration earmarked an additional $25 million over the 1998 U.S. budget to help schools integrate technology into the curriculum and for technology training for teachers. (Chaika, 2006) This allowed for the United States to start the process of possibly catching up to other world powers when it comes to the education of students in the core subjects. Purpose of the Study The purpose of the research for this study is to show that technology can positively affect the learning process of 8th graders in a Tennessee middle school. Furthermore, this study will show whether or not the use of whiteboards improved the scores of the students from the initial pre-test to the post test taken at the end of the observational study. Importance of the Study Since the Clinton administration set aside $25 million back in 1998 to help teachers and school districts across the United States to improve their scores through the use of today’s modern technology. Integrating the technology into the everyday routine for use by a teacher and a student was the Clinton administration’s key to their Education Reform in 1998. The importance of the study will show just how the technology affects the learning through student interaction and through testing of their skills before and after the use of whiteboards are implemented into the classroom. Definition of Terms whiteboard: technological board which can show images from a computer that allows a person to use a pen or finger to draw, mark, or highlight information. And that information can be saved upon a computer and replayed as well. CBL / CAI: computer-based learning / computer-aided instruction, where the future of teaching is going. Computers are central to the learning process, thus allowing the student to think more for their self and allow the teachers to become more mentors or coaches in the classrooms. PDAs: Personal Data Assistants Procedures Used There are multiple procedures used in this research study. This study takes a sample size of 130 students from one particular teacher’s Eighth Grade Mathematics classes within a Tennessee middle school as they use whiteboards for their studies and class interaction. The observational study will collect data from the initial pretest and the concluding posttest. Once the data is collected, it will be analyzed. The whiteboards are very powerful instruments that help teachers and students grow in their ability to learn and figure out problems on their own. These whiteboards will allow teachers to do more than lecture to the students, using this instrument of teaching will allow the teachers to be more like mentors or coaches in the classroom. Chapter 2: Review of Related Literature The research for this study included ten different sources which showed us how teachers should interact with their classes and how technology has an impression upon the students’ ability to learn. This research shows the positive and negative aspects of technology in the classroom. However, the research shows the positives heavily outweigh the negative aspects when it comes to using technology in the classroom. A lot of the sources found for this research show us that many of the research studies used in the sources themselves are the same. Most of those particular studies shows us that technology affects the students’ ability to learn in positive ways. On the website Education World there is an article, entitled Technology in Schools: Does it Make a Difference, written by Glori Chaika back in 1999, which was originally from the website TechnicalSchool.org, but placed on this site in 2006. This article opens up with the information of the Clinton administration back in 1998 setting aside an additional $25 million for integrating technology into the schools and instructing the teachers in the use of technology for the classroom. Furthermore, this article quotes Darla Waldrop, a junior-high computer lab coordinator in Louisiana. She states, “Children who don’t do anything in class will work if it’s on the computer. It takes that ‘I’m not working for an authority figure’ out of it. They’re working at their own pace, and they love the multimedia effect.” This article also tells what makes some programs more successful than others. And it gives the pro resources for technology in schools. Best Evidence Encyclopedia released a booklet in July of this past year that was written by two members of Johns Hopkins University, Alan C.K. Cheung and Robert Slavin. This booklet was entitled, The Effectiveness of Educational Technology Applications for Enhancing Mathematics Achievement in K -12 Classrooms: A Meta-Analysis. This meta-analysis shows us that technology in mathematics classrooms help the students increase their retention, help with their problem solving ability, and improve the marks which students will receive. However, this booklet also shows that the improvement of children who have on access to computers on a regular basis is greater than those who have regular access to computers. The next source came from Learning & Leading with Technology magazine volume 29 number 8 from May of 2002 written by John Cradler, Mary McNabb, Molly Freeman, and Richard Burchett entitled How Does Technology Influence Student Learning?. This article shows that technology helps students achieve higher marks in content areas, develop higher-order thinking and problem solving skills, such as information research, comparing and contrasting, synthesizing, analyzing, and evaluating; and prepare for the workforce. In the article Critical Issue: Using Technology to Improve Student Achievement, the North Central Regional Educational Laboratory shows us that over the last decade over $66 billion has been poured into the educational system to increase the technology used in schools. Furthermore, this article shows what actions to take and the pitfalls of those actions. Back in 200, the International Academy of Education and the International Bureau of Education put out a booklet entitled Improving student achievement in mathematics written by Douglas A. Grouws and Kristin J. Cebulla. They concentrated, not on the technological aspect of teaching, but how to increase the ability of the student to learn overall. The authors wrote on subjects such as Opportunity to learn, Focus on meaning, and Learning new concepts and skills while solving problems. Grouws and Cebulla wrote that the students’ ability to learn is not only related to technology but in how the teacher relates the material to the student. On the website TechknowLogia.org, they show articles from previous issues of their magazine. In the November/ December 1999, Sonia Jurich, on pages 31 -34, wrote an article entitled Computers in the Classroom: How Effective???. She describes that computers are becoming an essential part of, not only everyone’s daily lives, but of education, as well. She showed us different studies on how computers affect Mathematics classes. From each of the different studies she reviewed she showed the findings, observations, along with the focus and the methods. After all the studies she reviewed, her conclusions show that it is not really enough to know that schools are using computers, but how they are using those computers. Also, needing to be addressed is the frequency in which the computers are used and whether or not the software/ hardware of a computer system needs to be updated. ISTE, the International Society for Technology in Education, put out a policy brief acknowledged by the CEO Don Knezek, Phd, CAE, entitled Technology and Student Achievement – The Indelible Link. This policy brief shows the current research upon Education Technology and Student Achievement, the Seven Factors for successfully Implementing Technology for Learning, the Effects of Access and Equity on the Use of Technology to Improve Student Achievement, How Does the Issue of the Effect of Technology on Student Achievement Fit into the Larger Picture of Global Competitiveness?, and Policy Recommendations, both on a national level as well as a state and local level. The Milken Exchange put out a booklet on The Impact of Education Technology on Student Achievement written by John Schacter. He shows the reader what the most current research has to say and, then, analyzes the 5 largest scale studies of education technology to date. As he writes about these studies, he shows the findings from each, whether they are positive, negative or inconclusive. His conclusions show that students with access to computer assisted instruction, integrated learning systems technology, simulations and software that teaches higher order thinking, collaborative networked technologies, or design and programming technologies show positive gains in achievement on researcher constructed test, standardized tests, and national tests. The Effects of the Use of Interactive Whiteboards on Student Achievement written by Karen Swan, Jason Schenker, and Annette Kratcoski for the Research Center for Educational Technology at Kent State University shows the reader that there are positive gains using interactive whiteboards which has the advantage that involves fingers and pens and is more kinesthetic, where drawing marking, and highlighting any computer-based output is supported, thus a whole class can follow the interactions, with lessons being able to be saved and replayed later. Their conclusions show that there are gains in student achievement when whiteboards are used in the classroom. Time4Learning is a company that creates computer based software for learning purposes. The mathematics program leads a student through number sense, ratios and proportions, real world computation, data and statistics, and practice. This program shows the student how to perform the tasks listed and shows the students exactly how to calculate the data. Chapter 3: Presentation and Analysis of the Data This study is taken from a Tennessee middle school teacher’s eighth grade Mathematics classes throughout a 10 week period. First the students were tested before the class is introduced to the whiteboard. At the end of the 10 week period, the students were tested again. 1 2 3 4 5 Period Pre Pre Pre Pre Pre Scores before 56.8 46.07 51.08 64.92 54.19 Post Post Post Post Post Scores After 72.4 63.04 60.54 73.68 65.67 Girls (14) Girls (16) Girls (9) Girls (16) Girls (17) Gender Assessment Pretest Pretest Pretest Pretest Pretest Scores before 46.21 47.29 49.14 69.79 47.71 Posttest Posttest Posttest Posttest Posttest Scores After 70.86 66.00 64.21 76.00 62.14 Boys (11) Boys (10) Boys (17) Boys (9) Boys (10) Pretest Pretest Pretest Pretest Pretest Scores before 64.45 43.91 49.82 61.64 62.00 Posttest Posttest Posttest Posttest Posttest Scores after 74.36 61.45 54.73 70.73 71.00 Table 1. Data Table of Average Scores from Assessments Once we collected the data we analyzed the data which came up with two graphs over all. One shows the whole class when it comes to technology affecting how a student learns while the other shows how technology affected learning whether or not they were a boy or a girl. Thus as you can see in Figure 1, all the scores improved after the use of the whiteboard for instructional purposes throughout all the class period. However, in Figure 2, the chart shows that the girls performed much better in the pretests overall while the boys actually outperformed the girls in the posttest in all but the 4th period class. Figure 1. How Technology Affects Learning – the whole class score averages Figure 2. How Technology Affects Learning- boys vs. girls average scores. Then for the study, we generated the descriptive statistics for the study. Pretest Results   Posttest Results   Mean 54.44615385 Mean 66.93076923 Standard Error 2.243391183 Standard Error 1.790193537 Median 56 Median 70 Mode 98 Mode 73 Standard Deviation 25.57859496 Standard Deviation 20.41134677 Sample Variance 654.26452 Sample Variance 416.6230769 Kurtosis -1.0452257 Kurtosis -0.49288456 Skewness -0.01100847 Skewness -0.49432426 Range 90 Range 86 Minimum 10 Minimum 14 Maximum 100 Maximum 100 Sum 7078 Sum 8701 Count 130 Count 130 Confidence Level(95.0%) 4.438604339 Confidence Level(95.0%) 3.541941709 Table 2. Descriptive Statistics for the Study. The numbers in the descriptive statistics show us that the range of the scores was higher and farther between in a standardized pretest amongst the classes, but in the posttest the scores were much closer. The most common score amongst the pretest for all the students was a 98, where in the posttest most carried a 73. Though the average score rose from an approximate 54 to an approximate 67, which shows that through the use of technology the students are improving, this still is not good enough. The average score needs to raise above a failing grade, thus the United States as a nation is lacking in the student retention and instruction. Chapter 4: Findings, Conclusion, and Recommendations Introduction The study was taken to see if Tennessee students could benefit from the use of a Smartboard, a whiteboard, in the classroom. This will allow student interaction where the teacher is more like a coach or mentor than a lecturer and teacher. Findings The major findings from this study show us that The students improved from the first test to the concluding test Overall all classes improved Though the girls did better during the pretest, in all but one class the boys outperformed the girls. Those students with no previous access to computers outside of school improved better than those students who have computer access outside the realms of school. Conclusions The conclusions from this study show that students greatly benefit from the use of interactive whiteboards in the classroom. Also, the teacher benefits from the use of the whiteboard as well, since they can perform their lesson once and can save it to be replayed later in the following classes. Thus, anything that can be done on a computer can be done on a whiteboard. With computers in the classroom, the student will be able to improve their skills in higher-order thinking and problem solving. Recommendations The recommendations are for Tennessee to initiate a technological program which would place computers in the hands of all the kids in the school districts with the use of whiteboards in the classroom. Thus, keeping the classroom technologically savvy and up to date with the latest hardware and programs should allow the present an future students to increase in their achievement scores, develop higher learning thinking and problem solving skills, while at the same time developing skills that will eventually be used in the real world workplace. Bibliography Chaika, G. (2006). Technology in the schools: it does make a difference!. Retrieved from http://www.educationworld.com/a_admin/admin/admin122.shtml Cheung, A. C. K., & Slavin, R. E. (2011). The Effectiveness of Educational Technology Applications for Enhancing Mathematics Achievement in K-12 Classrooms: A Meta-analysis. Best evidence encyclopedia. Retrieved from http://www.bestevidence.org/word/tech_math_Sep_09_2011.pdf Cradler, J., McNabb, M., Freeman, M. & Burchett, R. (2002, May). How does technology influence student learning. Learning & Leading with Technology, 29(8), 46-49:56. Retrieved from https://k20portal.ou.edu/k12/leaders/Document Library/1/Article.StudentLearning.pdf Critical issue: using technology to improve student achievement. (2005). Retrieved from http://www.ncrel.org/sdrs/areas/issues/methods/technlgy/te800.htm Grouws, D. A., & Cebulla, K. J. (2000). Improving student achievement in mathematics. Geneva, Switzerland: International Academy of Education. Retrieved from http://www.iaoed.org/files/prac04e.pdf Jurich, S. (1999, Nov / Dec). Computers in the classroom: how effective???. TechKnowLogia, 31-34. Retrieved from http://www.techknowlogia.org/TKL_Articles/PDF/43.pdf Knezek, PhD, CAE, D. International Society for Technology in Education, (2008). Technology and Student Achievement- The Indelible Link. International Society for Technology in Education. Retrieved from http://www.k12hsn.org/files/research/Technology/ISTE_policy_brief_student_achievement.pdf Schacter, J. (1999). The impact of educational technology on student achievement: what the most current research has to say. Milken Exchange on education technology. Retrieved from http://www.waynecountyschools.org/150820127152538360/lib/150820127152538360/impact_on_student_achievement.pdf Swan, K., Schenker, J., & Kratcoski, A. (n.d.). The Effects of the Use of Interactive Whiteboards on Student Achievement. Retrieved from http://edtech2.boisestate.edu/spechtp/551/07_The_Effects_of_the_Use_of_Interactive_Whiteboards_on_Student_Achievement.pdf Time 4 Learning. (n.d.). Eighth grade curriculum overview: online learning tool for eighth grade math, language arts, algebra & more!. Retrieved from http://www.time4learning.com/eighth-grade-math.shtml Appendix Smartboard from Touchboards.com, is the whiteboard used for the study. The active screen area is 74" W ? 46 1/8" H (188.0 cm ? 117.2 cm) and the diagonal on the screen 87 1/8" (221.3 cm). Read More