1. Effective Strategies for Teaching
Elementary Mathematics through Technology
Shauna K. Sanders
1009 Prince Way
Dalton, GA 30721
An Annotated Bibliography Submitted to:
Dr. D. A. Battle of Georgia Southern University
in partial fulfillment of the requirements for
FRLT 7130 –Y02
Monday, July 14, 2009
Statesboro, Georgia
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2. Effective Strategies for Teaching
Elementary Mathematics through Technology
Even though I am going to be a media specialist next year, I am not going to be able to
completely say goodbye to my favorite subject of mathematics. Luckily, at our school, the 3rd-5th
graders receive a 30-minute block of computer lab each week in addition to their regular library
time. Therefore, I am researching effective methods of teaching mathematics in the elementary
using available technology. My intended goals for this research is to discover effective learning
strategies for mathematics that I can implement into my students’ computer lab instruction time
and to discover technology tools that I can share with colleagues within my school.
I used two primary databases to locate articles pertaining to this topic: Education &
Information Technology Library and Academic Search Complete. Based on the criteria that I
used, Academic Search Complete provided more related articles. I chose the articles based on
whether the research involved a technology that would be available to schools and whether the
results of the conducted research would enhance or benefit my understanding of the effectiveness
of the technology tools. There were also a couple of articles I chose to include that provided
frameworks for assisting in the selection of technology tools for use in the classroom.
Betne, P. & Castonguay, R. (2008). On the role of mathematics educators and librarians in
constructive pedagogy. Education, 129(1), 56-79. Retrieved July 8, 2009, Academic
Search Complete database.
This article focused on students at LaGuardia Community College who were all enrolled in a
mathematics course. Results from a survey suggested that many of these students were not
knowledgeable in how to effectively use the Internet and its available resources to enhance their
mathematical learning. Based on the results from this research, the authors are highly
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3. encouraging more collaboration between math teachers and librarians in order to further develop
students’ understanding of mathematics through appropriate and effective online resources.
Chrystalla, M. (2005). Using technology to enhance early childhood learning: The 100 days of
school project. Educational Research and Evaluation, 11(6), 513-528. Retrieved June
19, 2009, Academic Search Complete database.
This article gave an in-depth look into a project used in a New York City school, which integrated
technology tools with academic subjects such as math and writing. There were three main
technology tools used, the Internet, Graph Club and KidPix, all of which were found to be
successful in helping the students to gain knowledge in writing, mathematics, social studies and
building self confidence. Graph Club, in particular enhanced the students’ learning and
understanding of data manipulation in mathematics. The students, teachers and technology
administrators within the school all gave feedback and comments throughout the project and
those comments are shared within the article by the author.
Ganesh, T. G., & Middleton, J. A. (2006). Challenges in linguistically and culturally diverse
elementary settings with math instruction using learning technologies. The Urban
Review, 38(2), 101-143. doi:10.1007/s11256-006-0025-7. Retrieved June 19,
2009, Academic Search Complete database.
According to the authors of this study, their definition of technology used for integration into
mathematics had to be changed as soon as they began their research. They found that technology
is more than just computers, Internet and online games. With mathematics, technology tools can
be graphing calculators and any kind of manipulative. They also found that integrating these
technology tools into the math instruction of ELL immersion students presented many challenges
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4. that affected their true learning of the concepts.
Groff, J., & Mouza, C. (2008). A framework for addressing challenges to classroom
technology use. AACE Journal. 16(1), 21-46. Retrieved July 6, 2009, Education
& Information Technology Library database.
The authors of this article researched challenges that have hindered the effective integration of
technology into classroom instruction for many years. Once the challenges were identified, they
then created a framework that will hopefully assist teachers in successfully implementing
technology-based projects into their classrooms and instruction. The framework is called the
Individualized Inventory for Integrating Instructional Innovations. The authors’ next step is to
actually test the framework in an instructional setting for its ability to predict project success of a
technology-based project.
Harris, J., Mishra, P., & Koehler, M. (2009). Teachers’ technological pedagogical content
knowledge and learning activity types: curriculum-based technology integration
reframed. Journal of Research on Technology in Education, 41(4), 393-416.
Retrieved July 8, 2009, Academic Search Complete database.
In this article, the authors stressed the importance and necessity of using the technology,
pedagogy, and content knowledge (TPACK) framework in order to choose and integrate effective
technology tools into classroom instruction. Due to the ever changing and development of
technology, the authors of this article claim that no matter what tool is chosen today, there may
be a better one tomorrow. Therefore, they encourage the use of their TPACK framework, which
also evolves as the technology does.
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5. Lehman, J. D., Warfield, J., Palm, M., & Wood, T. (2001). Making teaching public. Journal
of Research on Computing in Education, 33(5), 1-19. Retrieved June 19, 2009,
Academic Search Complete database.
Authors of this article had a goal in mind of helping mathematics teachers to effectively
collaborate online via email in order to learn more effective technology strategies for teaching
math and overcoming obstacles in mathematics instruction. The authors used an online
community of mathematics teachers who were supposed to report twice weekly by email to the
rest of the group in hopes of contributing to a new way of sharing effective teaching methods for
mathematics. Those educators who participated reported that they were able to see mathematics
being taught in several grade levels and discussed common mathematics problems.
Penuel, W. R., Boscardin, C. K., Masyn, K., & Crawford, V. M. (2007). Teaching with student
response systems in elementary and secondary education settings: a survey study.
Educational Technology Research & Development, 55(4), 315-346. doi:
10.1007/s11423-006-9023-4. Retrieved July 8, 2009, Academic Search Complete
database.
In this article, an online survey was given to 498 elementary and secondary educators about how
they use student response systems in their classrooms. The authors studied the teachers’ goals for
the response systems, their instructional strategies and the effects of the response systems they
have seen within each of their classrooms. Based on the comments made by several of the
teachers, it was evident that the response systems can be used in multiple content areas and for
teaching and/or assessing.
Rogers, C. & Portsmore, M. (2004). Bringing engineering to elementary school. Journal of
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6. STEM Education Innovations & Research, 5(3/4), 17-28. Retrieved July 12, 2009,
Academic Search Complete database.
In this article, the Center For Engineering Educational Outreach at Tufts University in
Massachusetts developed an engineering curriculum to be used in the local elementary schools in
order to enhance the students’ understanding of math and science concepts. The students and
teachers that took part in this program used a technology tool called ROBOLAB which was a
collaboration effort of LEGO and National Instruments that allowed the students to participate in
hands-on learning to learn math, science and engineering.
Ysseldyke, J., Spicuzza, R., Kosciolek, S., Teelucksingh, E., Boys, C., & Lemkuil, A.
(2003). Using a curriculum-based instructional management system to enhance math
achievement in urban schools. Journal of Education for Students Placed at Risk,
8(2), 247-265. Retrieved July 10, 2009, Academic Search Complete database.
The authors of this article conducted their research based on a computerized curriculum-based
instructional management system called Accelerated Math (AM). The students in the AM group
showed significant increase in math tests scores when suggested intervention strategies were fully
implemented. This research identifies positive effects of a computer software package that
accelerated the math achievement of at risk students when used properly and fully.
Implications for Applications to Educational Settings
I gained quite a bit of useful information and learned a great deal from my research project
on effective strategies to use in order to teach mathematics through technology. Technology is an
ever evolving broad and various range of tools that when used appropriately can greatly enhance
the learning experience. I really thought I was going to find great articles about citing fun
websites and online learning tools. However, many of the articles that I found to be quite
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7. interesting involved more than just computer games and websites. Rogers’ and Portsmore’s
(2004) idea of integrating engineering into the elementary brought about an excitement from the
students to learn math, which in my experience is quite rare once a child reaches fourth and fifth
grades. Their ROBOLAB was created and designed for students in Massachusetts, but I think
that because of the local carpet industry in Dalton, I might be able to obtain a similar technology
tool to use within my school.
Another great resource that our school has already been investigating the possibilities of
its effectiveness is the student response systems. After reading what some of the teachers had to
say about these tools as assessment pieces, I am motivated to push and encourage the purchase of
these tools a little more persistently with my administrators (Penuel, Boscardin, Masyn, &
Crawford, 2007). Similarly a few software programs were mentioned that I would definitely like
to implement during the students’ computer lab time. Graph Club, which was mentioned in
Chrystalla’s research of the 100 Days of School Project (2005), has some very applicable
capabilities that I was not aware of, such as allowing students to input the same data into more
than one type of graph, which would enable students to compare the usefulness and
appropriateness of different types of graphs. Not only would I like to accurately learn how to use
this program, I would also like to teach other teachers how to use it also.
There were two main articles included in this research that focused on frameworks that
would assist teachers in choosing and implementing a technology tool that would be the most
beneficial for a specific purpose or task. One article introduced the TPACK framework, which
helped teachers to focus on the technology, pedagogy and content knowledge that would and
should be included when selecting an appropriate tool to use for instruction (Harris, Mishra, &
Koehler, 2009). In addition, researchers Groff and Mouza (2008) created a framework entitled
the Individualized Inventory for Integrating Instructional Innovations. They hope that their
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8. framework will assist teachers in predicting which technology tools will be successful in their
classroom for their specific goals.
Even though this annotated bibliography is complete, my research relating to effective
strategies for teaching elementary mathematics through technology has just begun. There is such
a wide and vast amount of information regarding effective technology tools. My only concern is
finding the time to continue researching the topic and then implementing the tools into my
instruction. Due to the fact that technology is such an evolving idea, there will always be new
tools to try.
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