A Case Study of the Issues Arising when Teachers Adopt the Use of a New Form of Technology in Their Teaching for the First Time

Introducing any new initiative into teaching involves professional development and training. This paper investigates the reactions of three teachers to the introduction of graphics calculators into their department. Each teacher was followed through one academic year. They were interviewed formally...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inInternational Journal for Technology in Mathematics Education Vol. 14; no. 3; pp. 150 - 160
Main Authors Berry, John S, Graham, Ted, Honey, Suki, Headlam, Carrie
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published Plymouth Research Information Ltd 01.07.2007
Subjects
Foreign Countries
Graphing Calculators
Interviews
Mathematics Instruction
Mathematics Teachers
Professional Development
Profiles
Teacher Attitudes
Teaching Methods
Training
United Kingdom
United Kingdom
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Summary:Introducing any new initiative into teaching involves professional development and training. This paper investigates the reactions of three teachers to the introduction of graphics calculators into their department. Each teacher was followed through one academic year. They were interviewed formally on two occasions and also met informally with the researchers to discuss how they were using the calculators. The interviews were used to develop profiles of the three teachers. From these profiles a set of recommendations was developed that could guide other schools who were introducing graphics calculators for the first time. These recommendations were (i) that the department should have an action plan which describes where and why the calculators are to be used (ii) both initial and on-going training is necessary (iii) appropriate support in the form of both teaching resources and hardware should be readily available.
ISSN:1744-2710
2045-2519