ICT has a “massive contribution” to make to school reform: it can make a “significant contribution” to teaching and learning, provide opportunities to engage and motivate, and enable schools to share good practice (Department for Education and Skills [DfES], 2003, p. 2-3). This has been true in so many classrooms around the world that the presence of ICT has transformed both teaching and learning, and has allowed learners to engage with the mathematical content in a different way. There are so many programmes out there that can achieve this purpose but not all are as easily available as spreadsheet programmes like Microsoft Excel.
2.6.1 What is a spreadsheet?
Spreadsheets are calculating tools that are used for the manipulation of data for the purposes of financial planning or budgeting, data analysis or record-keeping (Heide & Henderson, 2001). Users are able to create and use custom formulae that can automatically recalculate when changes are made to the numbers in the data (Heide & Henderson, 2001). Final workings and analysis can also be displayed in graph or chart formats, in word processing or presentation software (Heide & Henderson, 2001). This summarises the functions of a spreadsheet.
The educational benefit of using spreadsheets is that learners are better able to understand the relationships of numerical data or information when viewed and manipulated in spreadsheet format and presented graphically (Merrill, Hammons, Reynolds, Christensen & Tolmon, 1996). This is the reason that this research study made use of Excel: to enable the learners to understand relationships between numerical data that is presented graphically. These relationships require that learners have a deep understanding of the impact of the numerical data on how the graph looks, thus enabling them to manipulate and interpret the changes that will take place when one of the variables is changed.
31 Spreadsheets have a long history and have been used extensively in different fields, other than education (Baker & Sugden, 2003). However, the primary concern of this research study is the benefits of spreadsheets in the educational context.
2.6.2 ICT characterised classrooms
The fundamental difference between conventional teaching and teaching using ICT is the teaching style. In conventional teaching methodology (teacher-centred instruction), which has governed most of the world’s teaching for centuries, teachers are the centre of instruction and learning, with the learners following the leads of the teachers. In learner-centred teaching, learners are no longer passive receivers of knowledge; instead, they are “active participants in learning and co-constructors of knowledge” (Meece, 2003, p. 111). With the use of more and more ICT in the classroom, the change becomes more and more evident: there is a shift from the traditional or conventional teaching style into a more learner-centred instruction.
Teachers are the biggest drivers of whether ICT is incorporated into the classroom or not. The government might push the need to incorporate technology into the classroom, but if a teacher does not believe that it is worthwhile incorporating it, then it will not happen. Cuban (2001) argues that beliefs influence what and how teachers choose to teach and what innovations they endorse or reject. This is evident in so many classrooms in our country where there is no ICT being used. Stols and Kriek (2011) in their research found that a teacher’s belief about ICT correlates with their behaviour regarding ICT. This means that what they believe about, for example, the usefulness and ease of use of ICT is a strong determinant of whether they will use the technology or not. This particular study focuses on learners rather than teachers, but it is important to note that a teacher that has a positive belief about the use of ICT in the classroom will be also be willing to transform a conventional classroom into an ICT incorporated classroom.
Using technology in a classroom does not mean that there will be an immediate migration from traditional to learner-centred instruction; the use of technology in the classroom determines the extent and the degree of this change but this change needs to be gradual. A number of researchers have proposed over the years that learner-
32 centred teaching techniques play a vital role in the instruction of learners (Norman & Spohrer, 1996; Schwienhorst, 2002; Watters, Conley & Alexander, 1998). In the case of this research study, technology, specifically Excel, was used with the aim to promote learner-centred instruction. One of the most important things about integrating technology in the class is not just the fact that it has been integrated, but how it is used once integrated (Goldenberg, 2000).
Although research shows that there is need to change the teaching style when using ICT in teaching and learning, this was not necessarily the focus of this research as much as the need to change the teaching method and incorporate computers.
Another possible solution to the current Mathematics problem that our country is facing is to make Mathematics more contextual. Hurst (2008) suggests that learners may become more engaged in mathematical learning if the Mathematics is embedded in a context that is relevant to them. If learners are able to connect their Mathematics to such contexts, they might become more motivated, see the value of learning Mathematics, learn to apply their Mathematics, and, ultimately, become analytical users of Mathematics. The CAPS document (DBE, 2011a & b) and NCS (DOE, 2003a) both speak about allowing learners to solve real-life, contextual problems that relate to their everyday life.
However, whether one changes one’s teaching method or uses more contextual problems, what is important for this research is that ICT is introduced. The next thing that is critical is finding some other benefits to the integration of Mathematics and computers like improving learner attitude, improving disciple or helping them to perform better in the subject.