Attitudes of mathematics teachers to the use of computer technology in the classroom

Muhammad Tanveer Afzal and Muhammad Azeem
University of Education
Lahore, Pakistan

Computers have been used in education for more than four decades and have now been accepted as a vital component of our entire educational system. The increasing availability of technology and computers presents teachers with exciting opportunities to transform pedagogical practices. Realizing the potential benefits of technology, stakeholders in education are trying to enhance its use in the actual classroom setting. Each year, a substantial portion of educational institutions' budgets is allocated to supporting the integration of computers into instruction on the assumption that they benefit teaching and learning, and can improve students' academic performance. Given this background, we recognized the need to investigate to what extent the mathematics teachers' community accepts this change.

This study on serving mathematics' teachers' attitudes to the classroom use of computer technology involved teachers in the Jhelum district of Pakistan, with a random sample being drawn from 30 Government High Schools (GHS) and Government Girls High Schools (GGHS) (15 each). The aim of the research was to examine the effects of gender, locality (urban and rural) and professional qualifications, with the researchers hypothesizing that these factors would not influence the teachers' attitudes. The research tool for assessing these three null hypotheses was adapted from an existing attitude scale, and included sections on personal information and questions about the availability of computers and the subjects' training in computing. The instrument was mailed to the teachers and 42 responses were received. The data, which were analysed using the Independent Samples t-test, indicated that male teachers had a more positive attitude to the use of technology than their female counterparts. The level of professional qualifications also had a positive effect on the teachers' attitudes, but locality had no effect.