Academic literature on the topic 'Computers in primary schools'

With the development of using tablet computers in the classrooms, it is raised concern in education how to enhance the effectiveness of using tablet computers in teaching and learning. In this study, it provides a significant framework included four main obstacles of using tablet computers as a learning tool related to schools, teachers, students and parents that are studied with grounded theory. The purpose of this study is to understand the obstacles of using tablet computers as a learning tool and provide some recommendations according to teachers’ perception of teaching and students’ engagement of learning that occurs as a result of using tablet computers in primary schools. From the results of comparing students’ using tablet computers between schools and homes, the perception of teachers, students and parents’ on using tablet computers as a learning tool, the study found that there is a lot to develop and improve the tablet computers for primary school students to use as a learning tool.<br>published_or_final_version<br>Education<br>Master<br>Master of Science in Information Technology in Education

This thesis examines, conceptually and empirically, the educational role of microcomputers in primary schools. The first part of the thesis is, in the main, theoretical. It is concerned with making more explicit the meaning of the term 'computer education' and the kinds of activities to which it may legitimately refer. The first chapters seek to substantiate the argument that, in essence, 'computer education' is an attempt to use computers in ways which foster and promote the quality of the educational processes provided by schools. Having considered computer education from a theoretical perspective, it is then explored empirically. An interpretive research methodology was utilized. The methods used to gather data were thus mostly qualitative, rather than quantitative. Case studies were undertaken to illuminate the ways in which computer education was interpreted in three primary schools. Attention focused on the educational values implicit in policy and practice and on identifying correspondence and discrepency between how computers were used and the educational philosophies espoused by individual teachers and schools. The empirical research revealed that imprecise, non-explicit and largely unarticulated intentions were being pursued by teachers in their employment of computers. No particular educational rationale was being explicitly adopted, even though, some close affinity between educational values and classroom practice would seem to be essential if the notion of 'computer education' is to have any real meaning. However, the conclusion of this thesis is not to doubt the importance of microcomputers in primary education. Rather, it is to suggest that fundamental questions about the educational purpose of computers need to be more rigorously addressed if computers are to be integrated into the curriculum of the future in ways which hold out some promise of improving the quality of educational experiences offered by primary schools.

The case studies carried out in four non-government primary schools in the ACT aimed to look at the way teachers were using computers in classrooms in order to shed light on the factors which may determine how teachers chose to use computers to enhance learning. The case study method allowed the researcher to use triangulation to provide in-depth information about the processes involved in the delivery of a lesson using a computer. The findings were positive in that more than half of the teachers were found to be using computers at a high level of adoption, predominantly running simulation programs. In most schools, this was in spite of either hardware or software constraints, inadequate professional development opportunities or administrative obstacles. Whether the teachers taught in a laboratory or had one computer in the classroom did not seem to retard their enthusiasm for finding the best strategies to effectively integrate computer use. Cooperative learning strategies had been adopted by most of the teachers so their transition to computer use was made easier since their students had already been 'routinised'.The data also pointed to formal Computer Education as a possible determinant of a high level computer user. However, research on a wider scale would be needed to validate the result. Differences in the way classes were managed in a onecomputer classroom and a laboratory were evident. Teachers spent most time with those students working away from the computer in the one-computer classroom and most time with those working at the computer in the laboratory setting. Methods of evaluation were shown to be necessarily different depending on whether work was carried out in a laboratory or a one-computer classroom. Finally, the study pointed to the need for non-government schools and system managers to begin long-term planning for hardware and software purchase and resource management in order to provide teachers with the tools needed to integrate computer use effectively. Such planning would need to include provision for professional development.

This study shows how schools in the United Kingdom, make use of leT in the primary school classroom, and compares these experiences with the potential for schools in an economically developing country, Libya, which has yet to introduce computers into primary education. Based on a triangulation of empilical study, classroom observation and a review of the literature, this study considers the merits of introducing computers into primary school mathematics teaching in Libya. Empirical field studies involved questionnaires and interviews for teachers in both countries, and testing the effect of introducing mathematical software to pupils in Libya who had not used a computer. The study considers initial and in-service training requirements for teachers, including the need for teachers to be able to select appropriate software. The study considers a list of criteria for teachers to use. In examining the UK situation, observing what took place in Libyan classrooms during the fieldwork experiment, and through subsequent interviews with Libyan teachers, the study identifies that the introduction of leT into primary school classrooms would impact significantly on traditional teaching methods used in Libya; challenging continuous whole-class teaching, moving to the use of small groups; challenging traditional gender-roles of boys and girls; challenging teachers to act as facilitators allowing pupils to determine in part their own learning. An evaluation of the experiment suggests that the computer can enhance mathematics learning in a non-computing literate culture. The study concludes that the introduction of leT into Libyan education involves far-reaching issues of resourcing and teacher training.

As a result of this study, it was possible to make suggestions for informed pedagogical decisions, regarding the manner in which learning should be structured for a national approach to touch keyboarding instruction on computers at the primary school level in Belize. The population consists of 1,757 Standard 2 students in the 68 primary schools in the Belize District. The design was a posttest-only control group design with random assignment of subjects to four sub-groups, and random assignment to two types of treatment at counter-balanced times and days. A cluster sample of 29 students in an intact class, divided into four sub-groups, was drawn from a typical, co-educational, inner-city primary school in Belize City. Two sub-groups -- the experimental group –used the Herzog System of Keyboarding, i.e., Herzog Fast-Track text and Hub-Key Sensors, and presentation of the keys in alphabetic sequence. The other two sub-groups the control group -- received keyboarding instruction by the traditional method, i.e., keyboarding text, and home keys followed by random letters. Subjects were taught the alphabet keys, period, comma, shift lock, and shift keys in about 11'/2 hours spread over an 8-week period, divided into 4-week sessions for each treatment. Towards the end of the period of instruction, subjects were involved in using their keyboarding capability to compose language arts material at the keyboard. At the end of the period of instruction, two 3-minute straight copy timings were administered as the posttest. Scores for each subject were averaged and analyzed by a parametric statistical test, viz., analysis of variance (ANOVA). It was hypothesized that subjects who were taught touch keyboarding by the Herzog System would achieve higher speeds, that they would be more accurate, and that they would be more adept at composing at the keyboard, than students taught by the traditional method. The analysis of variance procedure did not support the first two hypotheses, but it supported the third hypothesis.

The many valuable aspects of Chinese education have been seen throughout the world. For example Chinese teachers have been invited into the UK to instruct UK teachers on how to improve the quality of Mathematics education there. However, from 2001 onwards the government of China has sought to import pedagogies from the West in order to tackle observed problems with their own education system. Many scholars feel the problems the government were trying to address – the lack of critical thinking, a tendency to rote learning and an exam focused mind-set – would lead to failure for these techniques. However, these studies have all been with older students in high school and beyond. Little or no work has focused on students in the primary grades. Casual observation of Chinese primary school students would imply that they have no trouble in coming up with ideas and discussing them. The initiative for the study in this thesis has therefore been to see if this age range of students would be open to discussion based classes. A study was undertaken to determine if the removal of the teacher from control of the discussion would facilitate this age group to partake in face to face discussion. Other aims were to see whether constructivist learning would result or would the face based, hierarchical Confucian background education system prevent this. The original study was encouraging and as a result a technology based intervention was developed to see if this could help to improve the discussion and would allow further opportunities for students to feel able to engage. To encourage this the new system was also made anonymous. A third study was introduced to see if this approach could prove beneficial to the teachers also as to get such approaches adopted in Chinese schools the teachers would also need to see the benefit of the approach. The resultant study has demonstrated that not only do Chinese primary school students engage in face to face study but they also can be further encouraged by use of an online system. Further developments also indicate that the system can be valuable to the teachers who can use it as an aid to find out the preconceptions of their students and thus help them in developing a more focused curriculum. The thesis ends by describing ways in which this study can continue to have a positive impact in developing students’ critical thinking skills.

The last fifteen years has seen an increase in the availability of calculators for use by schools and students. Educational authorities in Australia, the United States of America and the United Kingdom have come to recommend the student use of calculators from Kindergarten upwards. This recommendation has attracted continuing controversy, specifically regarding the use of, calculators in primary schools. Such controversy prompts an important question: What views do primary teachers themselves hold on this issue? This report examined the findings of a study into primary teachers' present attitudes toward the student use of calculators in primary mathematics classes. Data were collected from a questionnaire administered during 1990 to a sample of teachers undertaking their fourth year of study for a Bachelor of Education (Primary) at three university campuses in New South Wales, Australia. Those teachers who supported the primary student use of calculators believed that calculators are a technological tool for use in mathematics, that they increase childrens' confidence, they take the focus off computation in doing problems and that children use them outside the classroom. It was found that of these teachers, 55% supported the introduction of calculators before the end of Year 2. A total of 4% did not support their use at all in primary mathematics classes. This study concluded that there was not overall support from primary teachers for the introduction of the calculator into Kindergarten as recommended in the National Statement on the use of Calculators for Mathematics in Australian Schools<br>Master of Education

The introduction of the computer into the educational arena is unique as pressure for its inclusion has come not from educationalists, but from public demand based on the conviction that exposure to computers is an essential ingredient of modern education. This has resulted in computers being added to school curricula before there has been careful research into its educational implications, making huge demands on teachers involved in the innovation. South African primary schools involved in computer education have followed international trends in their adoption of computers, initially perceiving computer education as a separate subject added on to the present curriculum. However, changing trends in computer use internationally are now beginning to reflect educators' changing perceptions of the nature of primary education, and educators are calling for the use of computers to be integrated into the curriculum rather than being seen as an area of study in themselves. This investigation attempts to outline general trends and perceptions of computer use in a South African primary school. Despite a high level of computer usage at the observed school, the computer was seen by teachers, in the main, as an extra subject, and has not yet led to any significant changes in teaching styles and methods. The research suggests that two main issues need to be resolved before computer education in primary schools reflects the present paradigm shift towards learner-centered educational practices. Firstly, there is a need to rethink the delivery of the curriculum towards one which promotes a greater degree of problem solving and decision making on the part of the learner. Secondly, it would appear that teachers need to be made more aware of this trend.