Orchestrating ICTs for Promoting Students’ Mathematical Proficiency at the Secondary Level in Bangladesh

Abstract

ICT has widely been considered to have the potential to promote positive changes in the teaching and learning process. This study aims to explore how ICTs can be orchestrated in the teaching-learning practice so that students’ mathematical proficiency is enhanced. Through a classroom-based intervention study, teachers’ teaching practice with ICTs and students’ level of mathematical proficiency were investigated. This study also identified the factors that influence integration of ICTs in the teaching-learning process. This study employed a case study- mixed method (convergent parallel) approach where two cases were selected from the schools of Dhaka city. Each case constitutes an ICT- facilitated Grade-10 mathematics classroom, one mathematics teacher & students of that classroom and head teacher of the school. A design experiment was applied under each case. In the preliminary phase of the design experiment, tentative design principles for the intervention were developed and in the prototype phase of the design experiment, the intervention was applied. The mathematical software ‘GeoGebra’ was considered as the catalyst of the intervention along with the other technologies. The instructional unit for the intervention was on linear function. Classroom observations, interviews, FGDs, paper-pencil tests and survey questionnaires were administered to collect data. The qualitative data were collected through interviews, classroom observations and FGDs while the quantitative data were collected using survey questionnaires and paper-pencil tests. To explore teachers’ pedagogical considerations in an ICT-facilitated teaching-learning environment to promote students’ mathematical proficiency, classroom observations, interviews (with teachers) and FGDs (with students) were conducted. Before the intervention, survey questionnaires and paper-pencil tests were administered to understand students’ baseline mathematical proficiency level. After the intervention, survey questionnaires, FGDs and paper-pencil tests were conducted to understand whether students’ mathematical proficiency improved or not. Finally, semi- structured interviews with teachers and head teachers of both cases were administered to xii identify the factors that affect ICT integration in the teaching-learning process. The affecting factors were also identified by classroom observation. Qualitative data were analyzed by iterative analytical approach whereas quantitative data were analyzed by the descriptive statistics that include mean, median and standard deviation. A paired sample t test and Wilcoxon signed rank test were used to compare the students’ level of mathematical proficiency before and after intervention. The study found that the teachers apply different pedagogical considerations with the help of ICTs to make the lesson effective. These pedagogical considerations are rearranging classroom amenities, ensuring technology accessibility and its appropriate usage, adopting different strategies to make the learning meaningful, offering multi-channel feedback, offering opportunity to identify error/ imprecision and engaging students through motivation. In the ICT orchestration process, ICT tools and students also perform several roles while teachers apply different types of instrumental orchestration (e.g., link-screen- board, Technical-support, Sherpa-at-work etc.). The study found that teaching approaches have a great influence on students’ development of mathematical proficiency (MP). When teachers orchestrate ICTs in their teaching-learning process, students’ all strands of mathematical proficiency (i.e., conceptual understanding, procedural fluency, adaptive reasoning, strategic competence and productive disposition) increase. The study also revealed that students’ productive disposition increases if they learn mathematics interactively. The study found that while a variety of pedagogical considerations promote students’ MP, all the pedagogical considerations do not directly enhance every strand of MP. The study also found several factors related to teachers, students, school and national context that affect ICT integration in the teaching-learning process. Overall, the thesis has several contributions to the theories and for policy and practice. The key theoretical contributions of the thesis can be stated as: 1) identifying specific pedagogical approaches that develop each element of mathematical proficiency (MP), 2) introducing a new component “selection of task” in the didactical phase of the theoretical framework “instrumental orchestration” of this study, 3) specifying the role of ICTs as well as students in the ICT-enabled teaching-learning environment while teachers’ intention to xiii promote students’ MP, 4) developing a comprehensive ICT-orchestration framework to enhance students’ mathematical proficiency. Further to that, several practical implications (for both policy and practice) of the findings have been discussed and also few scopes for future research have been offered.