High school science teachers' beliefs and attitudes towards the use of interactive whiteboards in education

Abstract

In recent years, the field of educational technology has rapidly developed and facilitated the integration of new generation technological tools into education. Interactive white boards (IWBs) are one of the popular technological tools which can be named as a product of this progression. In Turkey, with the scope of the FATİH (Movement of Enhancing Opportunities and Improving Technology) Project, the Ministry of National Education (MoNE) also distributed IWBs with internet connection for selected 17 pilot cities all around Turkey. This study explored high school science teachers’ beliefs and attitudes towards the use of IWBs by considering six different FATİH Project pilot high schools in Ankara. Science teachers (biology, physics and chemistry) from six of the high schools were selected and 36 teachers participated to the questionnaire out of 46. Of these, three teachers from each school were chosen by considering their questionnaire results with purposeful sampling method. The study utilized mixed-methods approaches so quantitative data (questionnaire) were complemented by qualitative data (interviews and classroom observations).The results were analyzed with descriptive statistics and qualitative data analysis methods. According to the results, teachers agreed that IWBs are teaching tools which facilitate reaching different sources and displaying them to the whole class immediately. Although teachers have positive attitudes towards the use of IWBs, it was seen that most of them do not feel comfortable while using IWBs in the classrooms. The reason for that was explained with insufficient in-service trainings by considering interview results. Moreover usage differences among science teachers (physics, chemistry and biology), common problems which are related to IWBs and contributions of IWBs to particular teaching process of the high school science teachers were indicated in following sections.