Supporting Teachers Implementing New Technologies: What Do Teachers Need to Know, Learn, and Be Able to Do to Effectively Implement a Technology-Based Fractions Intervention?

• In Event: Improving Instruction About Fractions: Different Approaches to Supporting Teachers and Students in the Classroom

Abstract

1. Objectives or purposes
The complete instructional model for the HALF intervention program includes individualized instruction facilitated by an intelligent tutoring system (ITS) as well as whole class and small group instruction facilitated by a teacher. In this paper, we report the results of a study aimed at understand understanding how to design effective teacher tools for the ITS and how to best support teachers learning to implement the HALF instructional model.

2. Perspectives
In order to effectively teach a complex content domain such as fractions, teachers must possess both subject matter knowledge (SMK) and pedagogical content knowledge (PCK). In the late 1980s, the work of Shulman (1986; 1987) and his colleagues from the Knowledge Growth in Teaching project brought the distinction between these types of knowledge to the forefront of the education research agenda. More recently, the Learning Mathematics for Teaching Project aimed to develop a practice-based theory of content knowledge for teaching (Ball, Thames, & Phelps, 2008). Their work resulted in a new model for the knowledge teachers need to teach mathematics that we use to inform our methods of supporting teachers learning to implement the HALF intervention program.

3. Methods
The study summarized in this paper took place in three classes of mixed-ability, sixth-grade students. The students experienced eight days of instruction using the HALF intervention program. Members of the HALF research group modeled HALF lessons for a group of four teachers for a period of four days, and then each teacher spend one full day implementing the instructional program in all three classes. The teachers were asked for feedback at regular intervals before, during, and after the intervention.

4. Data Sources
All of the interactions between our research group and the teachers were audio recorded. Research assistant recorded field notes during all eight days of the intervention. The lead programmer for the HALF project recorded all changes and modifications made to the computer system during the intervention.

5. Results
All four teachers that participated in our study demonstrated the ability to effectively implement the complete HALF instructional model, but the type of support each teacher needed from our research team varied in ways that seemed to relate to 1) their previous levels of experience teaching mathematics and 2) their level of understanding of the content domain of fractions. We developed preliminary teacher tools that provide visual summarizes of the quantitative data generated for each individual student by the ITS, and we developed methods of delivering actionable instructional recommendations to teachers on a daily basis. In future research, we plan to automate much of the daily support provided to teachers as well as scaffold the professional development that we deliver to teachers with different levels of previous experience using technology and teaching mathematics.

6. Significance
The results of the study inform the development of future versions of the HALF intervention program, but they also demonstrate the how researchers and curriculum developers can use technology to support teacher learning.

Authors

• Maria Angela Mendiburo, The Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching

• Laura K Williams, Vanderbilt University

• James Segedy, Vanderbilt University

• Ted Stephen Hasselbring, Vanderbilt University