Pre-Service Elementary Teachers Planning for Mathematics Instruction: The Role and Evaluation of Technology Tools and Their Influence on Lesson Design

This article is about a study that was conducted. This study is examining the roles which exist between pre-service elementary teachers and the technology tools they use in their Math lessons. The roles are on a scale, “not used” meaning poor success of the students to “master” meaning great success of the students. Participants had to teach three lessons; one of the lessons had to include technology. The study concluded that access to technology, cooperating teachers, and prior experience with technology had no significant influence on the roles. The results of the study suggest that curriculum goals do have an influence on these roles either. Specifically, pre-service teachers who tended to choose the objective first and used technology to enhance their lesson objectives were the most successful and had the highest roles called “Master.” The participants later reflected and wrote about the future potential for technology in education, they all favored the change. The participants also realized the most important part was the content of the lesson not the special effects of the technology.