MATHEMATICS TEACHERS’ ATTITUDES TOWARD THE COMPUTERS

ABSTRACT

This study reports an investigation of the effects of gender, age, and racial and ethnicity on the attitudes of mathematics teachers towards computer use. The participants of the study were mathematics teachers working in a wide range of New York public schools (n=50).  A Confidence with Computers in Mathematics Teachers (CCMT) rating scale was developed and a 3-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) was used to analyze the data. The results indicated that there is a significant difference between effects of gender age, and race and attitudes of mathematics teachers on the use of the computer. Teachers with high age group experience low confidence while teachers with low age group favor using the computers efficiently. Results demonstrated that mathematics teachers differed by their use of the computers, the confidence in using it, the knowledge about the computers. Implications of the study give valuable insight to the future use of the computers inside mathematics classroom, and teachers’ attitudes toward the computers.

Technology is described as the process by which people try to improve and organize the world (Yildirim, 2000). Despite its increasing popularity in the society, most educational places have struggled to give appropriate computer technology that is available to enhance human potential and teaching. Although the availability of computer use in K-12 classrooms is increasing, the use of such resources continues to be low (Ertmer, Addison, Lane, Ross, & Woods, 1999). There is growing evidence that teachers’ attitudes toward the use of computer technology interfere with the willingness to use computers and to collaborate on integrating computer resources into classroom practices (Gos, 1996).

Yildirim (2000) has found that teachers' attitudes (anxiety, confidence, and liking) significantly improved after the computer literacy course. Koszalka (2001) has argued that teachers' prior computer use, a professor's willingness to teach, and the current use of technology in the schools at which they work also influenced their attitudes toward and use of computers. Among the studies that have investigated teachers' attitudes towards computers, the most numerous are those that study male-female differences. Dupagne & Krendi (1992) found positive relationships between years of teaching experience and hours of computer training and between age and microcomputer training. Researchers are also looking at the dynamics of race and class, in relation to computers. Butler (2000) reports that both a gender and a racial gap exist in the field of computer technology.

 It is obvious that in the 21st century, almost all jobs will involve computers in some way.  It is crucial, therefore, for mathematics teachers to have appropriate technology training during their education, if they are to meet their student needs for the next century.