The effect of technology on students' achievement : the case of grade four experiencing a new software designed to teach problem solving strategies as a part of the mathematics subject matter curriculum objectives

النوع : Mémoire

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of the development of a software and traditional instruction on the achievement of fourth grade math learners. Fifty five learnerswere selected and randomly divided into two groups: an experimental and a control group (26 and 29 participants respectively). Using a posttest-only control group design and a t-test for independent samples, it was found that the learners who were instructed by using the LearnFun Series software, developed by the researcher, achieved significantly higher scores on the posttest than learners who were instructed using traditional learning methods (t = 2.20, p = 0.05). It was concluded that the designed software was significantly effective in raising the achievement level of learners who used technology as a means to enhancing their critical thinking skills. Limitations of the current study and recommendations for future use were also discussed.