Presentation Format
Individual Presentation
Intended Audience
All Audiences
Presentation Description
When reviewing literature for this research, it became clear that literature on the subject of technology in social studies classrooms falls into one of two main categories: how to use types of technology and teachers needing more training in technology use. This research centers on the data collected from a survey sent to Kentucky social studies teachers about their technology use in their classrooms. The initial plan for this research was to find any correlations between standardized test scores and technology use in the social studies. For this reason, surveys were intended only for 5th, 8th, and 11th grade teachers of social studies in Kentucky, since those are the years in which social studies is tested by the state. Dr. Lennex and Mr. Perrin intended to follow up on the survey by spending time in local schools. However, there was very little interest expressed by any teacher to have the researchers in the classroom and the survey data was inconclusive with respect to test scores. Because of this, survey data is strictly from 5th, 8th, and 11th grade social studies teachers, although the focus on test scores was dropped from the research after the surveys were completed.
Survey results indicated that teachers most often used videos, apps, and websites. The main reasons for using technology are testing, student research, content review, and interactivity. Teacher and student enjoyment for using technology and improved student performance are the main triumphs. The main challenges to technology use are lack of technology in students’ homes, weak school technology infrastructure and/or lack of equipment, and students being off-task when engaging with technology.
Location
Room - 210
Start Date
4-14-2016 10:45 AM
End Date
4-14-2016 12:00 PM
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 License.
Recommended Citation
Lennex, Lesia and Perrin, Andrew, "Social Studies with Presence: Technology Use in Kentucky Classrooms" (2016). Gulf South Summit on Service-Learning 2016. 1.
https://digitalcommons.georgiasouthern.edu/gss/2016/2016/1
Social Studies with Presence: Technology Use in Kentucky Classrooms
Room - 210
When reviewing literature for this research, it became clear that literature on the subject of technology in social studies classrooms falls into one of two main categories: how to use types of technology and teachers needing more training in technology use. This research centers on the data collected from a survey sent to Kentucky social studies teachers about their technology use in their classrooms. The initial plan for this research was to find any correlations between standardized test scores and technology use in the social studies. For this reason, surveys were intended only for 5th, 8th, and 11th grade teachers of social studies in Kentucky, since those are the years in which social studies is tested by the state. Dr. Lennex and Mr. Perrin intended to follow up on the survey by spending time in local schools. However, there was very little interest expressed by any teacher to have the researchers in the classroom and the survey data was inconclusive with respect to test scores. Because of this, survey data is strictly from 5th, 8th, and 11th grade social studies teachers, although the focus on test scores was dropped from the research after the surveys were completed.
Survey results indicated that teachers most often used videos, apps, and websites. The main reasons for using technology are testing, student research, content review, and interactivity. Teacher and student enjoyment for using technology and improved student performance are the main triumphs. The main challenges to technology use are lack of technology in students’ homes, weak school technology infrastructure and/or lack of equipment, and students being off-task when engaging with technology.
Program Abstract
Technology has become ever-present. The use of technology has many applications, including in the field of social studies education. This study focused on how technology is being used in Kentucky social studies classrooms and its perceived classroom effects. Using SurveyMonkey, social studies teachers in three tested grade levels within 65 of 173 districts of Kentucky’s school districts responded (17%) to both kind and use thereof technologies in their classrooms.