Hidir, K & Mehmet, G. (2007). The Effect of Constructivist Learning Principles Based Learning Materials to Students' Attitudes, Success and Retention in Social Studies . Turkish Online Journal of Educational Technology, 6, 3.
This study investigates whether technological learning materials, based on constructivist learning principles, have an effect on fifth grade social studies students' attitudes, academic success, and retention. The study participants were fifth grade students at Sehit Ali Gaffar Okkan Elementary School in Eskisehir, Turkey. Students were divided in half into a control group and an experimental group. The students were given a questionnaire for demographic information, and pre- and post tests containing open-ended essay type questions to measure their academic success and retention. The Social Studies Attitude Scale, developed by Deveci and Guven (2002), was used to determine students' attitudes. Research findings indicate that constructivist learning principles based learning materials increase students' academic success and retention in Social Studies but don't increase attitudes.
I'm lucky I had an idea what constructivist learning principles were, because this paper failed to go into detail, though that was the basis of their theory. They also did not mention what exactly the difference between the experimental and control group was... which I'm pretty sure is one of the main parts of a research paper. But besides that, it seems their results reflect the results of the other seven articles I have read. Technology is important, regardless of grade level or subject area.
Tuesday, June 9, 2009
Using the Theory of Habitus to Move beyond the Study of Barriers to Technology Integration
Belland, B.R. (2009). Using the Theory of Habitus to Move beyond the Study of Barriers to Technology Integration. Computers & Education, 52, 353-364.
The author speaks of integrating technology into K-12 classrooms aimed at shifting to a more student-centered classroom. The article focuses on schools in Northern New Jersey, and finds that the growth in access to technology in school has not been accompanied by an equal growth in technology integration, and it seems that teachers are not taking advantage of these valuable resources. The article focuses on teachers pedagogical beliefs as "the final frontier in our quest for technology integration." Belland interviews 105 teachers of various backgrounds to explore this idea. He finds that indeed it does seem that regardless of evidence showing how effective technology integration is for students, it is the teachers' perception of the pros and cons of integrating technology that dissuades them from using it as much as possible. Further more, it was found to be statistically significant that most teachers that have been teaching for ten plus years, feel that the time and energy put into integrating this technology is not worth it's benefits.
The results of this article are a little sad. You would hope that a teacher would put their students first and realize that technology integration is worth the effort. However, I am a bit younger and have grown up in a technological world and cannot understand having to relearn all of it. Still, I hope to incorporate technology into my classroom as I feel it is beneficial to learning.
The author speaks of integrating technology into K-12 classrooms aimed at shifting to a more student-centered classroom. The article focuses on schools in Northern New Jersey, and finds that the growth in access to technology in school has not been accompanied by an equal growth in technology integration, and it seems that teachers are not taking advantage of these valuable resources. The article focuses on teachers pedagogical beliefs as "the final frontier in our quest for technology integration." Belland interviews 105 teachers of various backgrounds to explore this idea. He finds that indeed it does seem that regardless of evidence showing how effective technology integration is for students, it is the teachers' perception of the pros and cons of integrating technology that dissuades them from using it as much as possible. Further more, it was found to be statistically significant that most teachers that have been teaching for ten plus years, feel that the time and energy put into integrating this technology is not worth it's benefits.
The results of this article are a little sad. You would hope that a teacher would put their students first and realize that technology integration is worth the effort. However, I am a bit younger and have grown up in a technological world and cannot understand having to relearn all of it. Still, I hope to incorporate technology into my classroom as I feel it is beneficial to learning.
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