ICT use in the teaching of mathematics: Implications for professional development of pre-service teachers in Ghana

Abstract

Included in the contemporary mathematics curricula in Ghana is the expectation that mathematics teachers will integrate technology
in their teaching. However, importance has not been placed on preparing teachers to use ICT in their instruction. This paper
reports on a study conducted to explore the feasibility of ICT use in mathematics teaching at senior high school levels in
Ghana. Interviews and survey data were used for data collection. Preliminary results showed that mathematics teachers in Ghana
do not integrate ICT in their mathematics instruction. Among the major perceived barriers identified were: Lack of knowledge about ways to integrate ICT in lesson and Lack of training opportunities for ICT integration knowledge acquisition. To overcome some of these barriers, opportunities of a professional development arrangement for pre-service mathematics
teachers were explored. Findings from the study revealed specific features of a professional development scenario that matters
for ICT integration in mathematics teaching in the context of Ghana.

KeywordsICT use–Professional development–Computer competencies–Mathematics education–Computer attitude–Ghana

Full text

Page 1

ICT use in the teaching of mathematics: Implications
for professional development of pre-service teachers
in Ghana
Douglas D. Agyei & Joke Voogt
# The Author(s) 2010. This article is published with open access at Springerlink.com
Abstract Included in the contemporary mathematics curricula in Ghana is the
expectation that mathematics teachers will integrate technology in their teaching.
However, importance has not been placed on preparing teachers to use ICT in their
instruction. This paper reports ona study conducted to explore the feasibility of ICTuse
in mathematics teaching at senior high school levels in Ghana. Interviews and survey
datawereusedfordatacollection.Preliminaryresultsshowedthatmathematicsteachers
in Ghana do not integrate ICT in their mathematics instruction. Among the major
perceived barriers identified were: Lack of knowledge about ways to integrate ICT in
lesson and Lack of training opportunities for ICT integration knowledge acquisition.
To overcome some of these barriers, opportunities of a professional development
arrangement for pre-service mathematics teachers were explored. Findings from the
study revealed specific features of a professional development scenario that matters for
ICT integration in mathematics teaching in the context of Ghana.
Keywords ICTuse.Professionaldevelopment.Computercompetencies.
Mathematicseducation.Computerattitude.Ghana
1 Introduction
In Ghana, mathematics is a compulsory subject at all levels in pre-university
education. Due to its importance the government is committed to ensuring the
provision of high quality mathematics education. Various attempts have been made
Educ Inf Technol
DOI 10.1007/s10639-010-9141-9
D. D. Agyei (*)
School of Physical Sciences, Department of Mathematics & Statistics, University of Cape Coast,
Cape Coast, Ghana
e-mail: d.d.agyei@utwente.nl
J. Voogt
Department of Curriculum Design and Educational Innovation, University of Twente, P.O. Box 217,
7500AE Enschede, The Netherlands
e-mail: j.m.voogt@utwente.nl

Page 2

in the past to improve the achievement of mathematics in schools. The most recent is
seen in the New Educational Reforms (Anamuah-Mensah National Education
Review Committee Report 2002) of which implementation started in September,
2007. The new curriculum in Mathematics at the Senior High School (SHS) places
emphases on skill acquisition, creativity and the arts of enquiry and problem solving.
It aims at developing in the student the ability and willingness to perform
investigations using various mathematical ideas and operations. As part of the
reforms the curriculum places a lot of emphasis on Information and Communication
Technology (ICT) as a tool for teaching mathematics (MOESS 2007). It is therefore,
designed to meet expected standards of mathematics in many parts of the world. In
spite of government efforts, mathematics has not undergone much change in terms
of how it is presented. These reflect consistently in low achievement levels in
mathematics among students at the high school levels. Results from the Trends in
International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS) in 2003 and 2007 at the
junior high school level (grade 8 equivalents) are instances of poor mathematics
achievement in the country. In the aforementioned study, Ghana’s eighth graders
were ranked 43rd among 44th and 46th among 47 countries that participated in the
study in 2003 and 2007 respectively (Mullis et al. 2004, 2008). The situation is not
too different in SHS’s. For many years the failure rate in mathematics has been
dramatically high in SHS’s. The low scores of students’ over the years in the Senior
Secondary School Certificate Examination attest to this (Ottevanger et al. 2007). In
Ghana not many studies have been conducted to explain such poor students’
performance in mathematics. Ampiah et al. (2004) reported that both pre-service and
in-service programmes in mathematics predominantly reflect teacher-centred
approaches to learning. Curriculum documents in this context suggest that teachers
should start every lesson with a practical problem to help students acquire the habit
of analytical thinking and the ability to apply knowledge in solving practical
problems (MOE 2000) and also make use of the calculator and the computer for
problem solving and investigations of real life situations (MOESS 2007), but this
orientation to teaching and learning requires more than recommendations contained
in syllabuses. More particularly the report on Developing Science, Mathematic and
ICT (SMICT) education in Sub-Saharan Africa suggested changes to the teacher’s
instructional role from presenter of knowledge and the use of drill-oriented methods
to participatory teaching and learning (Ottevanger et al. 2007). On a much broader
note, research conducted in other Sub-Saharan Africa highlights some of the factors
responsible for poor students’ achievement in mathematics: poorly-resourced
schools; large classes; a curriculum hardly relevant to the daily lives of students; a
lack of qualified teachers; and inadequate teacher education programmes
(Ottevanger et al. 2007).The government of Ghana recognizes the need for teacher
support for mathematics teachers in various ways. He considers ICT literacy as an
engine for accelerated development outlined in the Ghana Information and
Communication Technology for Accelerated development (Ghana ICT4AD Policy
document 2003). Ghana introduced ICT into the school curriculum in September
2007 following the recommendations of the ICT4AD document and the Anamuah-
Mensah National Education Review Committee Report (2002). Both documents
highlight the importance of integrating ICT into the curriculum at all levels. As a
result, the government and other institutions have invested huge sums of money in
Educ Inf Technol

Page 3

procurements of computers and establishment of computer labs in most SHS’s, but it
is still unclear whether these computers are being used effectively by teachers in
their instruction. Thus the question of whether mathematics teachers need any
further support to be able to integrate effectively the use of ICT in their daily
teaching routines remains unanswered. The overall goal of the present study was to
explore the feasibility of ICT use in mathematics classrooms in Ghana as part of an on-
going research project to design a professional development programme for pre-service
teachers.Therelevance of thisstudywas to(1)provide anunderstandingof thecontext of
mathematics teachers in the SHS’s in Ghana regarding ICT integration in mathematics
lessons and (2) determine the features of an ICT intervention that fits the realities in the
SHS’s that can prepare pre-service teachers to effectively design and implement ICT in
teaching mathematics. The study was guided by the following questions:
1.
2.
What are the barriers of ICT use in teaching mathematics in SHS’s in Ghana?
What are the needs of pre-service and in-service mathematics teachers in
teaching mathematics with ICT in SHS’s in Ghana?
What are the opportunities of ICT use in the teaching of mathematics in SHS’s
in Ghana?
3.
1.1 Teacher preparation programmes for teaching mathematics in the Senior High
School
The SHS mathematics curriculum in Ghana focuses on attaining one crucial goal: to
enable all Ghanaian young persons to acquire the mathematical skills, insights,
attitudes and values that they will need to be successful in their chosen careers and
daily lives (MOESS 2007). This curriculum is based on the premises that all students
can learn mathematics and that all need to learn mathematics. It builds on the
knowledge and competencies developed at the Junior High School level, placing a
lot of emphases on the development and use of basic mathematical knowledge and
skills. The student is expected at the SHS level to develop the required mathematical
competencies to be able to use his/her knowledge in solving real life problems and
secondly, be well equipped to enter into further study and associated vocations in
mathematics, science, commerce, industry and a variety of other professions
(MOESS 2007). The rationale of the curriculum has therefore a lot of implications
on teaching strategies and the training of mathematics teachers for SHS’s. In Ghana
Mathematics Teacher education for Senior High Schools is offered by two main
institutions, the University of Cape Coast (UCC) and University of Education,
Winneba (UEW). These two universities are institutes for higher education that have
the specific task to train teachers for the SHS’s. The main route in the teacher
education at both UCC and UEW is the Bachelor of Education qualification of
4 years duration. Three main components are present in these programmes: subject
content courses, education courses and teaching practice. The education courses are
further sub-divided into general ones and subject-specific ones (i.e. for individual
school subjects, or categories of subjects like science). The latter are taught in the
science and mathematics education departments and denoted as science or
mathematics pedagogy courses. The general education courses are taught in other
education departments, mostly Education Foundations. Similarly for teaching
Educ Inf Technol

Page 4

practice placement in schools, the organisation is done by a general education
department for all students from various subjects. A major difference between the
two universities lies in the fact that most content in UCC is taught by the Faculty of
Science, whilst at UEW this takes place in the Faculty of Science Education. The
mathematics content courses (which cover the SHS curricula) at the first and second
year undergraduate level are the main basis for teacher education students, but some
further content courses at the third and fourth year levels are also in the programme.
Two main problems can be distinguished that put the quality of the programmes
under pressure; reduced opportunities for interaction between lecturers and
individual students (as a result of fast expansion of student numbers in universities)
and lack of practical orientation. The later has roots in the educational tradition of
the Ghana education system which emphasizes teacher-centred exposition as a main
educational method (Adu-Gyamfi and Smit 2007).
1.2 Potential of ICT for mathematics education
The use of ICT in the mathematics classroom has long been a topic for consideration
by mathematics educators. Some examples of ICT use in mathematics include:
portables, graphic calculators and computerized graphing, specialised software,
programmable toys or floor robots, spreadsheets and databases. Studies have shown
that a range of portable devices exists which allow pupils to collect data, and
manipulate it using spreadsheets and databases for work in numeracy. Some portable
equipment also enables the study of maths to move out of the classroom and to
incorporate fieldwork investigations (Moseley and Higgins 1999).The use of graphic
calculators and computerized graphing in mathematics speeds up the graphing
process, freeing people to analyse and reflect on the relationships between data
(Hennessy 2000; Clements 2000; Hennessy et al. 2001). Specialists software such as
Computer Algebra Systems (CAS), Dynamic Geometry Systems (DGS) and Maths
curriculum software improve pupils’ skills and understanding in algebra, allow
pupils to manipulate and measure shapes leading to higher level of learning among
them (Hennessy et al. 2001; Clements 2000). Programmable toys or floor robots
controlled by instructions in programming languages (usually Logo) were one of the
earliest applications of ICT to maths, and where used were the cause of significant
changes in maths teaching (Becta 2003). Logo encourages pupils to develop
problem-solving skills, leads them to develop higher levels of mathematical thinking
as well as learn geometric concepts (Clements 2000). According to Ittigson and
Zewe (2003) ICT supports constructivist pedagogy, which allows students explore
and reach an understanding of mathematical concepts. This approach promotes
higher order thinking and better problem solving strategies (Ittigson and Zewe
2003). Becta (2003) reiterated that teachers can maximize the impact of ICT in
maths teaching by using ICT as a tool in working towards learning objectives. For
mathematics educators, defining the most effective uses of ICT in the teaching of
mathematics can certainly be described as a “wicked problem,” as represented by
Mishra and Koehler (2006). A number of challenging instructional questions are
associated within this wicked problem, such as: When should teachers incorporate
calculators when teaching arithmetic? How should teachers incorporate the powerful
new symbolic programs within basic algebra instruction? Should teachers allow
Educ Inf Technol

Page 5

student use of the many new online homework assistance web sites for mathematics?
Such instructional questions illustrate that the problem of effective ICT integration
into the teaching of mathematics is a complex innovation for teachers. They do not
only need to have competent knowledge of teaching mathematics but also need to be
competent in the pedagogical use of ICT (AACTE 2008; Voogt 2008).
1.3 Factors inhibiting ICT use in mathematics classrooms
Many studies have shown several obstacles that teachers experience in the
integration of ICT in their classrooms. Jones (2004) found a number of barriers for
the integration of ICT into lessons: (1) lack of confidence among teachers during
integration, (2) lack of access to resources, (3) lack of time for the integration, (4)
lack of effective training, (5) facing technical problems while the software is in use,
(6) lack of personal access during lesson preparation and (7) the age of the teachers.
Snoeyink and Ertmer (2002) have identified these or similar variations as widespread
barriers: lack of computers, lack of quality software, lack of time, technical
problems, teacher attitudes towards computers, poor funding, lack of teacher
confidence, resistance to change, poor administrative support, lack of computer
skill, poor fit with curriculum, scheduling difficulties, poor training opportunities,
and lack of vision as to how to integrate ICT in instruction. A study (Agyei and
Voogt, submitted) conducted in Ghana among pre-service and in-service mathemat-
ics teachers explored the influence of computer attitudes, competencies and access of
the teachers on their levels of ICT integration using the will, skill and tool concept.
The study reported low levels of ICT integration levels as a result of low
competencies and access levels of ICT. Furthermore, the study showed fairly high
levels of positive computer attitudes and indicated among others to be a necessary
condition to prepare teachers for new teaching methods which are flexible and
involve appropriate use of ICT. Of equal importance to ICT integration is teacher
preparation programmes. Research have shown that such programmes have not
adequately modelled the use of technology in their method courses (Adamy and
Boulmetis 2006) or incorporated effective approaches to technology integration into
a single technology courses (Brown and Warschauer 2006).
2 Method
2.1 Participants
A total of 180 educators constituting of 60 in-service mathematics teachers and 120
pre-service mathematics teachers participated in the study. Mathematics teachers
were used in the study because the mathematics curriculum in particular emphasizes
the use of ICT in the teaching and learning process. The practicing teachers were
selected from 16 Senior High Schools (SHS) ranging from government, mission,
private and international schools. Schools were selected because they had a
reasonable number of mathematics teachers as well as some kind of ICT
infrastructure. The average age of these in-service teachers was approximately 39
ranging between 25 and 59 years. There were 52 males and only 8 females. The
Educ Inf Technol