Week 6: What am I
finding as I collect data?
This was a surprisingly productive week. I started the week believing I would not
gather much useful information. I only
met with my students three days due to parent teacher conferences and an in-service
day. The computer issues I was having
last week were still plaguing me Monday morning, which had the potential to
wipe out any hope for gathering information.
Thankfully, my computer behaved during the periods I needed it and my
students were exceptionally cooperative.
I was also able to ask several interview questions to parents during
conferences. I was pleased that my early
pessimism turned out to be unfounded.
My work with students did not yield anything
surprising. They continue to enjoy
access to graphing calculators and continue to impress me with their level of
engagement when given difficult challenge questions. I asked them many of the same interview
questions I asked previously but chose to throw in a few questions about
technology they use in their other classes.
As expected, the kids are familiar with several types of technology but
their depth of knowledge is typically limited.
They understand the basics but usually do not have a deep understanding
of the capabilities. Considering their
age, that is not surprising.
Parent responses yielded a few surprises. Most were not able to list any forms of
technology that would be useful in a mathematics classroom other than
calculators and computers. When asked
how they thought computers could be useful, most could not come up with any
ideas other than internet searching. I
took advantage of the opportunity to enlighten them. The
most surprising was when I asked them ways they could assist their kids with
technology. I expected a few parents to
feel like they would not be very helpful but I anticipated most would feel
somewhat competent. I was surprised that
most did not feel they would be much assistance at all. Most of these parents are 10-15 years younger
than I am. Technology has played a
significant role in their lives for most of their adulthood. I was surprised by their feelings if
technological incompetence. After
hearing this, I decided to start asking teachers at my school some of my parent
interview questions. Sometimes our
research has to take a little detour. This
may turn out to be an interesting side trip.
Colin,
ReplyDeleteI’m glad that things turned out better than you thought they might! I have a tendency to get stressed and think the worst also. I love getting that feeling of accomplishment when things turn out better than I might have predicted. I agree with you that it is interesting that parents were not comfortable and didn’t feel like they would be able to help their children with the technology. How many of your parents participated in your survey? Did they complete it before you met with them or during the conference? Are you making observations about their participation and interest because of the use of calculators. It might be interesting to see how their participation and interest differs from days when they use the calculators and when they don’t.
I would also consider doing a survey at the end of this upcoming week about their experience of the calculators. Below is a list of questions that I thought might provide good data and information for you.
1. Before the past 3 weeks, had you used graphing calculators?
a. If so, how frequent?
2. Did you find the calculators made class more interactive and easier to participate in?
3. In the future will you want to use the calculators? Why?
4. Do you think your confidence in your math abilities increased due to the calculators?
I truly love your research topic and can’t wait to read your results.
Sounds like a great opportunity for school outreach into the community - just giving simple lessons on ways computers / technology can be used to guide students. I too would have expected parents to feel more confident with technology.
ReplyDelete