Classroom connectivity in Algebra I classrooms: results of a randomized control trial

Abstract

This study reports the outcomes of a randomized control trial in algebra involving a national US sample. The primary research question examines an intervention consisting of two components: (1) professional development (PD) and (2) connected classroom technology (CCT) on student achievement. The theoretical framework emphasizes a sociocultural perspective that calls attention to the relationship between the affordances or the classroom learning opportunities and students' ability to take up these affordances in the service of learning. We forward the argument that CCT helps teachers to align the learning possibilities of their classroom with students' capacities leading to greater student achievement. The treatment group implemented CCT following PD to support its effective use and control teachers implemented graphing calculator technology only. The effect size on student achievement after accounting for background factors was 0.30. This medium-sized effect is relatively rare for randomized experiments in education.

Keywords:

• mathematics achievement
• algebra
• technology
• classroom contexts

Acknowledgments

The research reported here was supported by the Institute of Education Sciences, US Department of Education, through Grant R305K050045 to The Ohio State University. The opinions expressed are those of the authors and do not represent views of the US Department of Education.

The authors wish to thank Dr Jeremy Roschelle of SRI International for his invaluable ongoing advice, perspectives, and suggestions and Dr Joan Herman of CRESST at the University of California Los Angeles for her help and wisdom in structuring this project.

The authors wish to acknowledge the generous contributions of Texas Instruments to supporting the professional development efforts and for providing the Navigator systems to school districts at a reduced cost.

Notes

1. These last two statistics are teacher-level means of school-level data.