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Cynthia V. Amboy M.A. Ed. Major in Mathematics

A Study on the Use of ICT in Mathematics Teaching by Chong Chee Keong, Sharaf
Horani & Jacob Daniel is a descriptive type of research wherein this deployed a survey
method to investigate the use of ICT and the barriers of integrating ICT into the teaching of
mathematics. The survey was carried out during a mathematics in-service course
conducted by the State Education Department. Before the commencement of the survey,
the respondents were given a briefing on the purpose of the survey. A total of 111
responses was received and they were analysed using the SPSS statistical package. A
questionnaire was adapted from the Teacher Technology Survey by the American Institute
for Research (AIR, 1998). The questionnaire was divided into seven areas, i.e., (A) the
teachers profile, (B) how teachers use ICT,(C) professional development activities, (D) the
teachers ICT experience, (E) the level of use in ICT, (F) the barriers faced by teachers and
(G) the proposed solution.

The results of this study were(i) The five most popular application packages used by
mathematics teachers were word processing packages, spreadsheets, search engines,
presentation software and drill and practice software. (ii) Courseware and presentation
tools were used widely for teaching mathematics. (iii) 68.5% of the respondents used the
browser to gather information. (iv) More than half of the respondents did not receive any
professional training in ICT during 2002-2004. A large proportion did not have any training
on how to integrate ICT into mathematics teaching. (v) 71.7% of the respondents said that
they use ICT infrequently or had not used ICT at all in the class. (vi) Some major barriers
hindering the implementation of ICT in mathematics teaching were found to be the lack of
time in school schedules for projects involving ICT, the lack of adequate technical support
for ICT projects, inadequate teacher training opportunities for ICT projects, the lack of
knowledge about ways to integrate ICT to enhance the curriculum and to integrate and use
different ICT tools in a single lesson.

What are the implications of the research results to classroom practice?
Mathematics teachers need more time to learn to use and how to integrate other
programmes in teaching mathematics. This objective will surely be attained through an
adequate education on the use of ICT such as attending seminars and trainings or taking
short courses. Moreover, to use ICT in teaching would also require enough time and
technical support to our students.

Based on the recommendations of the researchers, how would you apply the results
of the study to teaching mathematics?
Since it has been found out some of the major barriers that hindering the
implementation of ICT in mathematics teaching, the researchers had recommended the use
of e-portal. This consists of two modules: a resource repository and a lesson planner. This
will make our work more even simple. In addition we, teachers should be technologically
educated and competent. We should be updated of the other computer programs that
would make our teaching more effective and expose our students to the activities that
would enhance their skills and capabilities.
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A Study on the Use of ICT in Mathematics Teaching

Chong Chee Keong, Sharaf Horani & Jacob Daniel
Faculty of Information Technology
Multimedia University, 63100 Cyberjaya
Selangor Darul Ehsan, Malaysia
chong.chee.keong@mmu.edu.my


Abstract

The introduction of laptops in the teaching of mathematics and science in English
under the Teaching and Learning of Science and Mathematics in English Programme
(Pengajaran dan Pembelajaran Sains dan Matematik dalam Bahasa Inggeris, PPSMI) has
been implemented by the Ministry of Education since 2003. The preliminary observations
found that teachers are not fully utilizing these facilities in their teaching. A survey was
conducted to study the barriers preventing the integration and adoption of information and
communication technology (ICT) in teaching mathematics. Six major barriers were
identified: lack of time in the school schedule for projects involving ICT, insufficient teacher
training opportunities for ICT projects, inadequate technical support for these projects,
lack of knowledge about ways to integrate ICT to enhance the curriculum, difficulty in
integrating and using different ICT tools in a single lesson and unavailability of resources at
home for the students to access the necessary educational materials. To overcome some of
these barriers, this paper proposes an e-portal for teaching mathematics. The e-portal
consists of two modules: a resource repository and a lesson planner. The resource
repository is a collection of mathematical tools, a question bank and other resources in
digital form that can be used for teaching and learning mathematics. The lesson planner is a
user friendly tool that can integrate resources from the repository for lesson planning.


Reference:
Keong, C. C., Horani, S. & Daniel, J. (2005). A Study on the Use of ICT in Mathematics
Teaching. Malaysian Online Journal of Instructional Technology (MOJIT). Vol.
2, No. 3, pp 43-51.
Retrieved from http://www.researchgate.net/publication/228636180_A_Study_on_
the_Use_of_ICT_in_Mathematics_Teaching





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npconsultingsrl.com


This photo simply shows a scenario wherein the teacher guides all his students in
their hands on activities by projecting the material on front of them. Then, as what
information the students are acquiring, they apply it on their output using their personal
laptops.
The use of technology as espoused in research and students activities with
technology are similar because they gears towards the effective learning. However, the use
of technology as espoused in research does not only centers in one objective or result. It
can lead to the advancement of the technology and its usage. In other words, using
technology as espoused in research is beneficial to everyone not only to the students who
are using it whereas the result of students activities with technology may only be a
beneficial to the students.