ACTION RESEARCH REPORT SUBMITTED TO: Dr.

Jane Legacy ASU Students April 4, 2013 EDT 321 Tempe, Arizona Attention: Dr. Jane Legacy SUBMITTED BY: Taylor De La Fe Jessica Pena Porter Waung Autumn McClintock Students Arizona State University Mary Lou Fulton Teacher's College Tempe, AZ 8528 Telephone (408) 999-9999 INTRODUCTION: In response to your request for action research on the topic of technological versus traditional methods of teaching in the elementary classroom, Future Teachers of America submit this report to you. PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to investigate the effectiveness of using technology at the elementary school level as a primary method of teaching as opposed to traditional methods. Our team of researchers, Future Teachers of America, investigated students from EDT 321 at ASU to assess their views of technology and its effect on their learning abilities, study habits, and beliefs on how technology affects their overall views of learning and the world. 15 students from EDT 321 were surveyed. PROCEDURE: The research team decided to use surveys in order to conduct this Action Research. We distributed surveys in the class discussion forum for a six-day period in order to obtain as much information as possible. No permission slips were given to take the survey and 15 were returned. STUDY RESULTS: Our research team, Future Teachers of America, discovered the following results. Response Rate

15 n M ea n M ed ia n M od e R an ge

Gr ad e Le ve l

1 5

S o p h o m or es

5 (F re sh m e n a n d S o p h o m or es )

Table 1: Demographic Information Participants 15 Age: Range: 5, Mean: 5, Mode: 5 (Freshmen, Sophomores), Median: Sophomores These results can be displayed in Table 1. Demographic Information Gender: 87% Female, 13% Male

Academic Disciplines: 40% Education, 7% Business, 53% Other Race/Ethnicity: Caucasian: 80%, Latino: 7%, Asian: 7%, Native American: 7%

Survey Responses Question 1:

87% of all candidates who took the survey were female. Question 2:

The majority of the candidates who took the survey (80%) identified as Caucasian.

Question 3:

9 of the 15 people who took the survey were from some part of Arizona. Question 4:

There were 5 freshmen that took our survey and 5 sophomores making up a total of 66% of the candidates. Question 5:

40% of the people who took our survey were education majors. Question 6:

Only one person out of the 15 who took our survey claimed to never do math without a calculator.

Question 7:

Most of our survey completers (11 out of 15) said they do math without a calculator either at their job, in daily tasks such as shopping, or when the math is simple. Question 8:

53% of all candidates who took our survey claimed they write and type roughly the same amount.

Question 9:

Of the people who took our survey, the most common response for those who prefer to type (6 of 15) is because it is faster and/or neater. However, 4 of the 15 people claim that writing converts to memory better and/or is more personal than typing. Those who are neutral on the choice (5 of 15) mostly felt that the choice is situational; the longer the assignment or necessity of something being typed would lead them to typing. Question 10:

10 out of 15 people who took the survey claim that using technology makes completing projects/assignments easier. Question 11:

Over half of those surveyed answered Sometimes. Question 12:

When asked At what age did you become comfortable using the following: cell phone, computer, iPad (or other similar notebook device) over half of the surveyed responded, At age 11-15.

Question 13:

In order to understand the majorities thoughts on technology in the classroom, we asked the question: Do you think you would have benefitted from using technology in your younger years in the classroom? 87% of our peers answered saying

Yes/Mostly/Sort of. The remaining 13% said Not really. What this means is that a majority of our views technology as a positive thing. Question 14:

When asked to reflect on why they thought this for the previous question, we received a wide variety of answers. However, among those answers a common theme was noticed. Surveyors pointed out that in school they learned the basics of how to use technology. By learning these fundamentals, they were able to have less anxiety and virtually no training in the future for things such as Word, PowerPoint, etc. Although things such as surfing the web should not be allowed in a classroom, technology is becoming a crucial element of our day to day lives. To not teach children how to use technology is ignorant, likewise, to not teach children the fundamentals in reading and writing is equally as ignorant. Question 15:

The majority believed that it was mostly helping. Less than 30% thought it was neither helping or hurting, and only 1% thought it was mostly harming. Question 16:

Similarly, 40% of those surveyed thought that having technology in our elementary classrooms will add to our intelligence and advance us in society, another 40% remained uncertain, and 20% thought that technology may not be beneficial in the classroom. Question 17:

The survey also asked, Does technology make you lazy? Most were very conflicted and responded,It Depends, or ,Yes and No. Those who said yes believed that technology is, distracting, and, requires minimal effort, making the end result not as high a quality as something that demands more time and thought. Question 18:

Almost all of those surveyed said that it was not fair to allow one student a technology (or a shortcut/ easier way as most saw it) and deny another. Our society is making many advances and technology is integrated into those. Giving everyone the opportunity to use technologies helps them learn for the future. However another idea arose that it should be the students choice what they will use because some students may not be comfortable with technology. Of those that said, Yes, it is fair. stated that you do not NEED technology to learn, it is a benefit. And quite a few students noted that technology greatly benefits the special education community. Question 19:

When asked, Is cursive outdated? 40% of the surveyed said No, it is important and 33% said Yes, it is outdated.

Question 20:

When asked why they thought the above, most were in favor that they would be more excited to learn in an environment of the use of technology that they have now a days. There are many opportunities that come from this advancement and tend to keep students more engaged, unlike lectures. Question 21:

When asked, Who should have the power to decided whether technology is used in the classroom? 23% of the surveyed said School Districts as the highest percentage with 20% for both of the surveyed saying Parents and Teachers. Question 22:

When asked, Incorporating technology into a school may be beneficial for research, projects and more, but at what costs is it worth to upgrade for example laptops every 23 years? it varied with responses of the benefits being very useful for students an d teachers, but that the cost when it could be put forth something other to benefit the school and students. The cost may outweigh the benefits. Question 23:

We also asked for an opinion for the question Children respond best with positive affirmations (i.e.: Good job and gold stars). Do you think the immediate results that can be attained through technology is a good tool to give children those positive affirmations? The majority of the surveyors agreed that 47% thought that Yes, in addition to other ways and the other two categories both received 27% of Yes and No. Question 24:

When asked Did you use computers in your elementary class? 60% surveyed Yes and the other 40% said No. Question 25:

A majority said that they were able to learn how to type and also incorporating learning games. Also, agreeing that this was very effective and improved their skills on computer applications and writing papers.

Question 26: Was this survey easy to complete?

We asked the question: Was this survey easy to complete? over half agreed Yes.

Question 27: What else would you add to this research?

Overall, there was nothing too important that we missed discussing in our survey according to those who were surveyed. CONCLUSIONS: After surveying 15 students in the 3:00 pm EDT 321 class at Arizona State University we compiled our results and deduced that generally students felt that technology was beneficial to their overall scholastic experience. Although students generally believed that technology was beneficial, many students argued that utilizing technology in completing tasks requires minimal effort. Thus has the potential to result in students not valuing the importance and purpose of obtaining a quality education without the help of technology.

RECOMMENDATION: After obtaining the survey information our group collaborated and decided that technology is crucial to the success of students in modern day school. However we believe that students should still be required to do assignments without technology to make sure that they are not dependent on technology (i.e. spell check). we also thought that it would be significant to use technology to support the students education not to do the students work. Taylor De La Fe Jessica Pena Porter Waung Autumn McClintock Enclosures: <iframe src="https://docs.google.com/a/asu.edu/forms/d/1Ty9o-qRK1XiJQhfH8OChzlfov3kyHuyCo94kC7DXrc/viewform?embedded=true" width="760" height="500" frameborder="0" marginheight="0" marginwidth="0">Loading...</iframe>