AN EVALUATION INTO THE VIEWS OF CANDIDATE MATHEMATICS TEACHERS OVER “TABLET COMPUTERS” TO BE APPLIED IN SECONDARY SCHOOLS

ABSTRACT

This study aims to investigate, in terms of different variables, the views of prospective Mathematics teachers on tablet computers to be used in schools as an outcome of the Fatih Project, which was initiated by the Ministry of National Education. In the study, scanning model, one of the quantitative research methods, was used. In the population of the study is involved 130 prospective Mathematics teachers who study Mathematics Education at the Department of Primary Education, Faculty of Education, Giresun University in 2013 and 2014 Academic Year. The data of the study were obtained with the usage of ‘Tablet Pc Questionnaire Form’ developed by the researcher himself and ‘Computer Attitude Scale’ devised by Bindak and Çelik (2006). The data obtained from the study were analyzed with the tests known as percentage, frequency, single-factor Anova and Chi-square. The results indicated that there is a significant difference between prospective teachers’ Computer Attitude Scores and their tendency to supporting ‘Tablet Computers’. Similarly, prospective teachers’ conditions of supporting the usage of ‘Tablet Pc Computer’ show significant differences in terms of computer-use frequency, while no significant differences were found in terms of the case of the need to take in-service courses, the case of having a classroom and computers, the time, frequency and objective of computer-use. However, in terms of gender, significant differences were found between prospective teachers’ views. In addition, prospective teachers stated that the usage of tablet-computers in Mathematics Course could provide you with two advantages. First, Mathematics classes could become more enjoyable than it used to be through visuals and animations. Second, the abstract concepts in Mathematics could become more understandable.  However, the disadvantages stated by prospective teachers are as follows: 1) The communication between Mathematics teachers and students could be reduced and, 2) social interaction between students might be reduced.