How Special Are Teachers of Specialized Schools? Assessing Self-Confidence Levels in the Technology Domain

• In Event: Technology Integration in STEM Teaching and Learning

Abstract

In light of Turkey’s Fatih project, which equips Turkish schools with high-end educational technologies, this study investigates whether specialized high school mathematics teachers, chosen to educate selected students, are mentally ready to integrate Fatih project technologies into their teaching. Forty teachers from randomly selected specialized and general high schools responded to a survey comprising 31 items grouped under four measures of self-confidence in the technology domain. An independent t-test revealed no statistically significant difference between specialized and general high school teachers’ self-confidence levels. We concluded that technological pedagogical content knowledge should be an essential criterion for selecting specialized school teachers, who educate the country’s future innovators.

Authors

• Zehra Catma, Gaziantep College Foundation Private Schools

• M. Sencer Corlu, Bilkent University