Investigation of Pre-Service Teachers’ Attitudes toward Using the Computer in Teaching and Learning Mathematics

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to examine the attitudes of the pre-service teachers toward the use of the computer in mathematics classrooms. This study was conducted with 378 Turkish pre-service teachers (195 pre-service elementary school (PES) teachers, 183-pre-service mathematics (PM) teachers). Data were collected with an “Information Form for Computer Use” and a “Computer Attitude Scale for Teaching Mathematics” (CASTM). Th e CASTM consisted of fifteen 5-Likert scale type items and had 3 sub-factors. After the collection of quantitative data, the researchers used descriptive statistics and independent sample t-test in the analysis of the data. Results showed that there was a significant difference in the pre-service teacher’ attitudes and confidence towards the CASTM in terms of gender. It was also determined that the PM teachers’ attitudes and their confidence towards the computer were significantly higher than the PES teachers.