Date Awarded

1990

Document Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Education (Ed.D.)

Department

Education

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to determine the effectiveness of using the microcomputer to improve mathematics achievement for those students who did not pass the mathematics section of the State Literacy Passport Test in Grade 6.;The sample consisted of nine classes of seventh grade students who had not passed the LPT and whose parent(s) committed to the five week summer program. Students were assigned randomly to the nine teachers. The teachers were then assigned randomly to either the microcomputer or non microcomputer group with five being assigned to the microcomputer group. to control for teacher variability staff development and a detailed teacher's guide were provided. The topics covered in both groups were those which are addressed on the State LPT: numbers and numeration; relations and functions; computation with whole numbers, decimals, and fractions; measurement and geometry; and applications. The lessons for both groups included identical teacher directed activities. Students in the microcomputer group were assigned in pairs to a microcomputer and spent approximately 20% of the time using the microcomputer for follow-up activities whereas the students in the non microcomputer group worked on more conventional follow-up activities such as games and puzzles. The students attended classes for two and one-half hours, four days a week for five weeks.;A literacy passport test developed by the project director which was previously examined for content and concurrent validity and reliability was the posttest assessment. The pretest assessment was the State LPT.;The major findings of the study were: (1) Students in the microcomputer group scored significantly higher on the posttest for the total test and for the subtests of--computation with decimals, computations with fractions, and measurement and geometry. (2) Students in the microcomputer group experienced significant posttest gains on the subtest on computation with whole numbers but the posttest differences were not significant (p {dollar}<{dollar}.05). This was due to the significant differences in pretest scores in favor of the non microcomputer group.

DOI

https://dx.doi.org/doi:10.25774/w4-7ngq-b209

Rights

© The Author

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