Date of Award

1999

Document Type

Thesis

Publisher

Edith Cowan University

Degree Name

Bachelor of Education Honours

School

School of Education

Faculty

Faculty of Community Services, Education and Social Sciences

First Supervisor

Brian Farrell

Abstract

This study examined the changes in parental attitudes towards calculator use in the classroom during their involvement in calculator activities with students. The study also investigated the effectiveness of involving parents in mathematics activities as a support mechanism for calculator implementation in the school as a whole. A class of year 6 students and their parents were chosen for the study. Parents were first given a questionnaire to evaluate their attitudes towards the use of calculators in schools. Interested parents were consequently invited to participate in one fifty-minute lesson per week for eight weeks. During these lessons, calculators were used for a variety of purposes. The changes in parent attitudes were analysed based on the initial questionnaire, initial interview, journal entries during the eight weeks, and the final interview at the conclusion of the study. The researcher's journal was used to identify the researcher's attitude towards calculator use and the effectiveness of parent involvement in the activities. It was concluded that the attitudes of the parents changed over the course of the study. They discovered the potential of calculators as tools and teaching aids and were able to identify more benefits following the study compared with their comments before the study. The benefits that they perceived during the study had a direct effect on their reservations about the use of calculators in the primary classroom. These were significantly reduced by the conclusion of the study and primarily related to the way in which calculators could be used rather than if they should be used. The study revealed that involving the parents in the calculator activities gave them a clearer idea of how they could be used, and that their misconceptions and reservations were minimised as they discovered the potential of calculators for their child's learning.

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