1. Sara Ventrella
Bowling Green State University
Assessing the Impact of
Mathematics Technology
Intervention Upon Student
Achievement

2. Problem Statement
•According to U.S. Department of Education's 1999-2000 Schools
and Staffing Survey (May 2002), only 42% of new teachers have
stated they felt "well prepared" or "very well prepared" when it came
to using and incorporating computers in the classroom.
•There are a variety of reasons for lack of use:
•physical setting
•availability
•conditions of equipment received
•lack of training
•lack of interest
•socio-economic status of those inthe classroom (Kurt & Ciftci,
2012)
•teacher resistance (Hicks, 2011)
•teacher-student ratio
•student-computer ratio

3. Reasons to Support
Technology Integration
•Technology doesn't just effect teachers, but
students, too (Hicks, 2011):
•Increases and improves student attitudes
•Attention span of students increases
•Academic scores have shown
improvement through a variety of studies
•Confidence is boosted

4. Purpose of Study
• To find out the efficacy of technology
integration in the elementary school
classroom environment.
• Student academic outcomes were
examined over a period of 6 weeks,
which allowed for significant time for
student data to be collected.

5. Research Questions
Question 1: Do students that receive extra
technological intervention produce higher
data scores than those who do not receive
extra intervention?
Question 2: In what ways does technology
impact student academic achievement
across all subgroups of achievement (low,
medium, and high)?

6. Variables

7. Participants
• 3rd grade students at a private, urban
school in Southern Alabama
• Gender distribution for my specific
group was one boy for every two
girls, with a total of 2 boys and 4 girls
• Sampling method of convenience was
used for this study, as the teachers
knew of students' academic levels.

8. Procedures
•Anonymous survey was given at the beginning and end
of the study. Six short answer and 12 fill in the blank with
regards to mathematics concepts in which participants
indicated "like" or "dislike.”
•Concepts include: time, money, addition,
multiplication, division, fractions, and so on.
•Level 9 of the Iowa Test of Basic Skills was complete as
a post-test.
•Utilized the website IXL to help develop mathematics
skills

9. Results - Student Grade Level Growth
with Mathematics Technology
Integration

10. Results - Skill Mastery by
Subgroups Treatment Group

11. Results - Skill Mastery by
Subgroups Control Group

12. Conclusions
•Technology integration impacts any student,
regardless of their skills.
•Those that worked with me showed more growth and
improvement in academics and understanding of
mathematics overall when compared with those who
did not receive integration, even though they
improved, too.
•Integration of technology may help boost those
districts that are struggling to improve student
academic and growth in a typical classroom
environment

13. Limitations
• External validity:
• Study participants represented a very non-diverse
population of a sample from one school in one district
• Access to technology may be limited compared to
other samples that receive time with technology more
often
• Internal validity:
• Teaching styles may have been varied for the sample
• Their schedules between the two third grade classes
could be different, meaning one group of students is
on one topic while the other has moved on or is still
behind.

14. Recommendations
• All teachers have access to at least one
technological tool in their classroom
• Utilize this tool when necessary, although do not
rely on it as the sole means of education or
teaching
• Complete the study in the future with a larger
sample
• Additional studies need to be completed to help
identify whether the effects of technology can support
additional grade levels

15. Research Reflections
•Personal thoughts on research:
• Difficult
• Enjoyed getting to know my students
• Hard to gather data when you're not
specifically attached to the school
• Six weeks is not long enough to do a
research project
• Great mathematics technology is hard to
come across that is also entertaining to
students

16. References
Gruber, K. J., Wiley, S. D., Broughman, S. P., Strizek, G. A., & Burian-
Fitzgerald, M. (2002). Schools and staffing survey, 1999-2000: Overview
of the data for public, private, public charter, and bureau of indian affairs
elementary and secondary schools. Retrieved from
http://nces.ed.gov/pubsearch/pubsinfo.asp?pubid=2002313
Hicks, S. (2011). Technology in today's classroom: are you a tech-savvy
teacher?. Clearing House, 84(5), 188-191.
International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE). (2011).
Retrieved from http://www.iste.org/standards.aspx
Kemmis, S., & McTaggart, R. (1988). The action research planner.
Victoria, Australia: Deakin University Press.
Kirshenblatt-Gimblett, B. (2008) What is research design? The context of
design. New York University, Spring 2008.

17. References
Kurt, S., & Ciftci, M. (2012). Barriers to teachers' use of technology.
International Journal of Instructional Media, 39(3), 225-238.
PBS LearningMedia. (2013). PBS survey finds teachers are
embracing digital resources to propel student learning [Press
release]. Retrieved from
http://www.pbs.org/about/news/archive/2013/teacher-tech-survey/
University of Iowa College of Education Iowa Testing Programs
(2013). Test descriptions, Levels 9-14. Retrieved from
https://itp.education.uiowa.edu/ia/TestDescriptions.aspx
Winebrenner, S. (1996). Teaching kids with learning difficulties in the
regular classroom: Strategies and techniques every teacher can use
to challenge and motivate struggling students. Minneapolis, MN:
Free Spirit Publishing Inc.