Teachers

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Teachers Professional Development using ICT and
Student Achievement in Secondary Science in the
United Arab Emirates

• Alexander W. Wiseman, Ph.D.
• Comparative and International Education
• Lehigh University
• aww207_at_lehigh.edu

Emily Anderson, M.Ed. Education and Teacher
Certification Centenary College andersone02_at_centen
arycollege.edu
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Purpose of Study

• Rapid growth in education and ICT in region.
• International evidence of lagging science
  performance.
• Teachers often focus of educational reform.
• Provide evidence base for policymaking.

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Problem Statement

• ICT transforms teaching and learning in schools.
• Teachers under-trained in integrating ICT in
  instruction.
• Impact of digital divide in the Gulf/UAE.
• Need for constructivist instructional methods
  coupled with ICT training during pre-service and
  in-service teaching.

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Preliminary Findings

• Female students out-perform male counterparts
  under same circumstances.
• Urban schools post greater increases in student
  achievement associated with ICT-based instruction
  compared to rural schools.

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Research Questions

1. Does the incorporation of ICT-based instruction
   lead to increased student achievement in
   secondary science courses?
2. Does teachers professional development in ICT
   for instruction increase their use of ICT tools
   in their instructional practices?

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Data Methods

• TIMSS 2007
• International Association of Education
  Achievement (IEA)
• 60 countries
• 8 benchmarking communities
• 13-year-olds (8th grade equivalent)
• Math science assessment
• Student, teacher/classroom, principal/school
  background questionnaires
• Descriptive statistics
• Frequency distribution, central tendency
• Inferential statistics
• Hierarchical linear modeling (HLM)

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RQ1 Does the incorporation of ICT-based
instruction lead to increased student achievement
in secondary science courses?

• HLM analyses demonstrate (student level effects)
• Lower achieving students are more likely to use
  computers in their science lessons.
• Higher achieving students are more likely to come
  from higher SES backgrounds.
• Higher achieving students are more likely to
  speak the language of the test at home.

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RQ1 Does the incorporation of ICT-based
instruction lead to increased student achievement
in secondary science courses?

• HLM analyses demonstrate (school level effects)
• More experienced teachers are more likely to have
  higher achieving students.
• Teachers who use computers to do science
  experiments in science lessons are more likely to
  have low performing students.

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RQ2 Does teachers professional development in
ICT for instruction increase their use of ICT
tools in their instructional practices?

• HLM analyses demonstrate (student level effects)
• Higher achieving students are less likely to use
  computers in their science lessons.
• Girls are less likely than boys to use computers
  in their science lessons.
• Students from higher SES backgrounds are more
  likely to use computers in their science lessons.

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RQ2 Does teachers professional development in
ICT for instruction increase their use of ICT
tools in their instructional practices?

• HLM analyses demonstrate (school level effects)
• Participating in teacher professional development
  in ICT has no impact on the frequency of computer
  use in science lessons.
• More highly educated teachers are more likely to
  use computers in science lessons.
• Teachers who use computers in science lessons for
  analyzing data and practicing skills are more
  likely to use computers than those with other
  reasons.