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Children of the 21st century are digital learners and have various technologies at their fingertips. As a result, classrooms have evolved and school systems are equipping students and teachers with the technological tools that are believed to meet the needs of 21st century learners. However, researchers say there is still a need to examine students\ and teachers' perceptions of, and attitudes about, technology and its use in the classroom (Maninger & Holden, 2009). There has also been a growing interest in knowing if the investment of the technology is having any positive effects in the classroom, what effect technology has on academic progress, and understanding what teachers and students think about the implementation and integration of technology in the classroom as an instructional tool.
The purpose of this study was to examine the perceptions of middle school teachers and students, in a select rural Virginia middle school, on the effect that one-to-one computing had on the frequency and type of instruction that is taking place in the core areas of English, math, science, and social studies. The study also looked at the teachers' and students' perceived effect on the educational performance of individual subgroups. A quantitative analysis was done using an electronic survey, which provided information on the perceived frequency and type of educational activities using one-to-one computers and the perceived effect one-to-one computing had on the educational performance of different subgroups. Questions on the survey were developed by correlating the theoretical ideas of Bloom's taxonomy / Bloom's web 2.0 technology pyramids and then categorizing the questions so the complexity of the questions could be looked at on the range of use chart. The research found, of the students surveyed, 90% of English students, 78% of math students, 75% of science students, and 77% of social studies students found the computers to have a positive effect on their academic performance. Therefore, one major finding of this study was that students' perceptions of the overall effect of one-to-one computers were positive. |
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