The understanding of teachers’ use of the Geometer’s Sketchpad in their classrooms.

Abstract

In this exploratory study, we sought to examine the influence of mathematics teachers’ beliefs on their intended and actual usage of dynamic mathematics software in their classrooms. The theory of planned behaviour (TPB), the technology acceptance model (TAM) and the innovation diffusion theory (IDT) were used to examine the influence of teachers’ attitudes, subjective norms and perceived behavioural control on their intention to use dynamic mathematics software in their classrooms. The study adopted the co-relational research design, with both correlation statistics and regression analysis used to analyse the data. By using stepwise regression analysis, it was possible to identify the most important belief predictors and their weights for the different constructs. The results were verified by the use of partial least squares. This study found that beliefs about the perceived usefulness and beliefs about their level of technological proficiency are the most important predictors of teachers’ intended and actual usage of the software. In this preliminary study the suggested simplified model sufficiently explains 15 (83.3%) of the 18 teachers adaption and use of dynamic mathematics software in their classrooms