Meagher, M., Özgün-Koca, S. A., & Edwards, M. T. (2011). Preservice teachers’ experiences with advanced digital technologies: The interplay between technology in a preservice classroom and in field placements. Contemporary Issues in Technology & Teacher Education, 11(3), 243-270. https://citejournal.org/volume-11/issue-3-11/mathematics/preservice-teachers-experiences-with-advanced-digital-technologies-the-interplay-between-technology-in-a-preservice-classroom-and-in-field-placements/

Abstract:

“This paper reports on a study of 22 preservice teachers enrolled in a first-semester mathematics teaching methods course. Course activities included participation in two separate field experiences in neighboring school districts. The methods class placed considerable emphasis on the use of advanced digital technologies in the teaching and learning of mathematics, with particularly extensive use of the TI-Nspire. The purpose of the study was to examine preservice teachers’ evolving relationships with advanced digital technologies in their teaching, examined through the lens of their technological pedagogical content knowledge (Koehler & Mishra, 2005; Niess 2005, 2006, 2007), and to examine the interplay between their field placements and the quality of their use of advanced digital technologies in inquiry-based lessons. The principal conclusion of the study is that there seems to be a crucial, perhaps decisive effect that modeling of exemplary practice in the field placement has on candidate attitudes regarding the use of advanced digital technologies in their teaching. There is evidence that the pre-service teachers’ experiences in the classroom primed them for the possibilities of technology use but it takes the experiencing of exemplary practice to convince them of the benefits of working to incorporate technology in their own teaching.”