Singh-Pillay, A., & Naidoo, J. (2021). Pre-service teacher educators’ experiences of using mobile technologies in the teaching and learning of mathematics and technology education for the fourth industrial revolution. In J. Naidoo (Ed.), Teaching and learning in the 21st century (pp. 119-136). Brill. doi: https://doi.org/10.1163/9789004460386_008

Abstract:

“This qualitative ethnographic study reports on a project which sought to explore experiences of using mobile technologies, in the teaching and learning of mathematics and technology education. The researchers worked collaboratively to develop curricula featuring the use of mobile devices, in the context of their respective technology and mathematics education flipped lecture rooms, in response to the Fourth Industrial Revolution. Aligned with the module outcomes, mobile devices were used for teaching shapes, angles and design in mathematics and for applying the shapes, angles and design to build rigid structures in technology education. Mishra and Koehler’s Technological, Pedagogical and Content Knowledge model undergirded this study. This chapter advances the rationale that teacher educators’ pedagogical and technological practices cannot be understood without considering their socio-cultural backgrounds. The participants were teacher educators at one university in KwaZulu-Natal. Six teacher educators were purposively selected to participate in this study. Semi-structured interviews and observations were used to generate qualitative data. Data were subjected to content analysis. The findings reveal that teacher educators use mobile technologies to heighten students’ awareness of mathematics and technology in everyday life, to initiate thinking by enabling students to move from the concrete, observable phenomena to abstract understanding of principles and their application to design to solve contextualized problems. Such use of mobile technologies enhances students’ observation, discussion and presentation skills. Moreover, the findings highlight that teacher educators’ pedagogy relating to mobile technologies are impacted by early learning experiences and socio-cultural background. The findings have implications for the Technological, Pedagogical and Content Knowledge model and calls for an extension of the model.”