Technology access is at an all-time high in schools in the United States. However, research continues to document barriers to using technology in mathematics in ways that support higher-level thinking and lead to student achievement. This study examined teacher candidates' work samples in a course focused on instructional design and technology integration. The inductive analysis of candidates' work indicated that candidates demonstrated instructional design skills related to planning mathematics units, lessons, and personalized learning playlists. TPACK development was evident at the end of the semester, but barriers related to content knowledge and pedagogical content knowledge were evident in the early and middle stages of the semester. Implications for continuing to examine the development of candidates' instructional design and TPACK are also shared.
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Technology when used in conjunction with higher-level thinking has potential to support elementary students’ mathematical thinking (Polly, 2008; NCTM, 2011; Wenglinsky, 1999). In mathematics education, higher-level thinking is typically associated with tasks that are cognitively demanding and rigorous, allow students to use resources such as manipulatives or technological tools to generate representations of mathematical situations, and require students to reason and make sense of mathematics in the context of real-life authentic contexts.
The types of technologies in elementary school mathematics classrooms varies widely (New Media Consortium, 2014). In many cases, commercially produced programs that allow ample practice on basic computational skills are frequently used. Interactive whiteboards and document cameras are used to allow a teacher or student to project mathematical representations and pictures for a class to see and discuss. iPad apps and interactive websites feature educational games that provide students with extrinsic and competitive reasons to want to answer problems correctly. Lastly, iPads apps and interactive websites allow students to use virtual manipulatives where they use technology-based tools to generate mathematical representations. In studies, these technologies have shown to influence student learning to varying degrees.
While the impact of these specific technologies has been studied in various contexts, few studies have examined at pre-service teachers design of technology-enhanced lessons. One line of research led by the author has examined how pre-service teachers integrate technology when they design units of study towards the end of their teacher preparation program (Polly & Rock, 2016; Polly & Binns, under review). These studies found that towards the end of their program, all pre-service teachers integrated technology into their unit plans, and when technology was included at the end of lessons and units it was used in ways that promoted students’ higher-order thinking skills. Still, more research is needed on pre-service teachers development of technology integration knowledge and skills at various points in the program.
This chapter will present an overview of the Understanding by Design (UbD) framework frequently used by schools to design units of instruction and compare UbD to the more general ADDIE model of instructional design. We also will provide two vignettes of how UbD has been used to support pre-service teachers integration of technology into mathematics teaching.