Review of Research

Shirley, M. L., Irving, K. E., Sanalan, V. A., Pape, S. J., & Owens, D. T. (2011). The practicality of implementing connected classroom technology in secondary mathematics and science classrooms. International Journal of Science & Mathematics Education, 9(2), 459-481.

Research Questions

1. What features external to mathematics and science teachers’ class- rooms demonstrate instrumentality of connected classroom technology (CCT) implementation?
2. What features of successful mathematics and science teachers’ class- room practice were congruent with CCT implementation?
3. What relative costs and benefits of CCT implementation are described by mathematics and science teachers? 

Theoretical Perspective

In my opinion, the theoretical perspective used for this research is social constructivism. “The goal of [constructivist] research is to rely as much as possible on the participants’ views of the situation being studied” and “the researcher’s intent is to make sense of (or interpret) the meanings others have about the world” (Creswell, 8). Social constructivists also tend to have open ended, qualitative research questions allowing for this interpretation of the problem being addressed.

Research Paradigm

This was a mixed methods study. Quantitative data analyzed posttest achievement between treatment and control groups. The researchers also collected and analyzed data from follow-up professional development sessions, biannual interviews, and annual classroom observations.

Methodology

The data was collected from 100 math teachers and 20 physical science teachers through two phone interviews which were recorded and transcribed. Based on successful implementation of the connected classroom technology, a subset of the original participants contributed in a 2-day classroom observation and a post-observation teacher interview (POI). The classroom observations were videotaped and the POI interviews were recorded and later transcribed verbatim and analyzed using the NVivo™ software package. The constant comparison method outlined by Strauss and Corbin (1998) was used for this analysis.

Findings

What features external to mathematics and science teachers’ class- rooms demonstrate instrumentality of connected classroom technology (CCT) implementation?

• Teachers experienced initial challenges in setting up computer equipment
• Lack of familiarity with the technology sometimes impeded instruction
• Teachers attributed their success to support from administrative and other teachers
• Flexibility and creativity was sometimes negatively impacted

What features of successful mathematics and science teachers’ class- room practice were congruent with CCT implementation?

• The researchers defined congruence as how well the innovation matched the participating teachers’ teaching style
• Classroom discussions were improved due to the new content delivery method
• CCT was used to support district- and state-level testing and achieve goals mapped out by the curriculum
• Teachers were able to use CCT to track student learning and progress

What relative costs and benefits of CCT implementation are described by mathematics and science teachers?

• The majority of the costs involved time and professional development learning how to use the technology
• A major benefit of CCT was the ability of teachers to track and monitor student progress quickly and efficiently

Conclusions

Based on the findings, implementing CCT appears to have been successful among the participating math and science teachers assuming they have support from their administration and can operate the technology correctly.

Relate

This study relates to my own research on a number of levels. I plan to focus my study on the implementation of technology in secondary mathematics classrooms. I am also leaning towards a mixed methods study because I would like to analyze student achievement through post testing as well as the teachers’ perceptions of technology in the classroom.

Impressions

This study focused on one aspect of technology in the classroom: audience response units. I would have liked to see a broader use of technology in the classroom. By incorporating interactive whiteboards into the classroom, a variety of technologies can be utilized in one lesson (audience response units, videos, audio, webquests, and interactive activities). Also, the number of participants in the study was far too small. Although they started with 120 teachers, they eliminated the teachers who were unable to successfully implement the CCT. I understand that being unable to use the technology made it impossible to answer the interview questions regarding implementation, but by eliminating participants, the researches drastically decreased the data pool.

Additional Resources

Creswell, J. W. (2014). Research design: Qualitative, quantitative, and mixed methods approaches (4^th ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.

Strauss, A. & Corbin, J. (1998). Basics of qualitative research: Techniques and procedures for developing grounded theory (2nd ed.). Thousand Oaks: Sage.