Conference Contribution Details
Mandatory Fields
Lorraine Harbison & Shauna Magill
ATEE
A universal design for learning approach to frame the use of technology in primary mathematics education
Dubrovnik
2017
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Optional Fields
Recent Government policy documents have called on teacher educators in Ireland to reconfigure Mathematics Education programmes so as to embed familiarisation of, and competence in, the use of technology to support teaching, learning and assessment. However, research has consistently shown that technology, if not utilised effectively, does not enhance teachers’ capacity to respond to a diversity of learning needs and to deepen mathematical understanding, but becomes just a further bolt-on to an already overcrowded primary school curriculum In this study, 28 final year undergraduate initial teacher education (ITE) students were given a questionnaire to assess their baseline technological pedagogical content knowledge (TPACK) for teaching mathematics (Mishra & Koehler, 2006). The TPACK questionnaire consisted of closed and free response questions in relation to ITE students’ knowledge of technology (TK), content (CK), pedagogy (PK) and combinations of same. A teaching intervention followed on the use of the educational framework, Universal Design for Learning (UDL), to plan mathematics lessons that consider the needs of all learners from the outset (Rose & Meyer, 2000). The students adopted the UDL framework principles on school placement and developed a plan of work for one of those weeks in which they reflected on how mathematical understanding was supported through providing multiple means of representation, action and expression and engagement. The students then retook the adapted TPACK questionnaire. The results detail whether training on the use of UDL and implementation in practice provides a necessary lens through which technology can be embedded successfully in primary mathematics classrooms. Keywords: Primary mathematics education, Technological pedagogical content knowledge, Universal design for learning
SCoTENS