Information technology use and academic achievements of students in primary schools

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INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY USE AND ACADEMIC ACHIEVEMENTS OF STUDENTS IN PRIMARY SCHOOLS

Khalid Said Rabayah

Associate professor

Applied Informatics Research Center,

Arab American University,

Palestinian Territory, Occupied

The association between ICT diffusion and education is a subject of hot debate in both ICT and educational circles. Stances range from positive enthusiast, to skeptics, to disbelievers vis-a-vis the impact of ICT on students' achievements. The purpose of this paper is to investigate the presence of any correlation between students' academic achievements as recorded by Trends in International Mathematics and Science (TIMMS 2011) and the penetration of ICT in their schools and households, with focus primarily on computers and the Internet.

The paper relies on the analysis of the data published by the Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMMS 2011), international study center and the international association for the evaluation of educational achievements. Statistical data analysis will be employed to figure out whether there is any correlation between the penetration level of ICT and the students' score in math and science tests as recorded by the TIMMS 2011 international scale.

The analysis conducted within the scope of this research indicates the lack of any association between ICT use and students achievements in math and science subjects. Though the linkage between students' achievements is not a straightforward issue that can be uncovered via simple regression analysis, however, the results definitely indicate that employment of ICT in both schools and homes is an insignificant factor that can be easily offset by other major factors, like socio-economic conditions, instruction resources, teachers' capabilities, or cultural factors.

Keywords: ICT use; TIMMS Test; Students achievements; ICT in education; E-learning effectiveness.

ВИКОРИСТАННЯ ІНФОРМАЦІЙНИХ ТЕХНОЛОГІЙ І НАВЧАЛЬНІ ДОСЯГНЕННЯ УЧНІВ ПОЧАТКОВОЇ ШКОЛИ

Зв'язок між поширенням ІКТ та освіти є предметом гарячих дебатів в ІКТ та освітніх колах. Існують досить різні думки: від позитивних ентузіастів до скептиків та тих хто не вірить у вплив ІКТ на досягнення учнів. Метою даної роботи є дослідити наявність будь-якої кореляції між академічними досягненнями учнів, як це описано у міжнародному порівняльному дослідженні якості природничо-математичної освіти учнів 4-х та 8-х класів TIMMS 2011, і проникнення ІКТ в школи і побут, з акцентом в першу чергу на комп'ютери та Інтернет.

Стаття базується на аналізі даних, опублікованих міжнародним дослідженням TIMMS 2011, Міжнародним центром дослідження та Міжнародної асоціації з оцінки навчальних досягнень. Статистичний аналіз даних буде використовуватися, для того щоб з'ясувати, чи є кореляція між рівнем проникнення ІКТ та тестових оцінках учнів з математикиі та природничих наук, які відображені за міжнародною шкалою TIMMS 2011.

Аналіз, проведений в рамках даного дослідження, вказує на відсутність будь-якого зв'язку між використанням ІКТ і досягненнями учнів з математики та природничих наук. Хоча зв'язок між досягненнями учнів не є простим питанням, яке може бути розкрито через простий регресійний аналіз, однак, результати виразно вказують, що застосування ІКТ в школах і у побуті є незначним фактором, який може бути легко компенсовано іншими основними факторами, такими як: соціально-економічнимі умови, ресурси з інструкцій, можливості вчителів, культурні чинники.

Ключові слова: використання ІКТ; тести TIMMS; навчальні досягнення учнів; ІКТ в освіті; ефективність електронного навчання.

ИСПОЛЬЗОВАНИЕ ИНФОРМАЦИОННЫХ ТЕХНОЛОГИИ И УЧЕБНЫЕ ДОСТИЖЕНИЯ УЧАЩИХСЯ НАЧАЛЬНОЙ ШКОЛЫ

Халид Саид Рабаях

Связь между распространением ИКТ и образования является предметом горячих дебатов в ИКТ и образовательных кругах. Существуют самые разные мнения: от положительных энтузиастов до скептиков и тех., кто не верит влиянию ИКТ на достижения учащихся. Целью данной работы является исследовать наличие любой корреляции между академическими достижениями учеников, как это описано в международном сравнительном исследовании качества естественно-математического образования учащихся 4-х и 8-х классов TIMMS 2011, и проникновение ИКТ в школы и быт, с акцентом в первую очередь на компьютеры и Интернет.

Статья базируется на анализе данных, опубликованных международным исследованием TIMMS 2011, Международным центром исследования и Международной ассоциации по оценке учебных достижений. Статистический анализ данных будет использоваться для того, чтобы выяснить, есть ли корреляция между уровнем проникновения ИКТ и тестовых оценках учащихся по математикие и естественным наукам, которые отражены по международной шкале TIMMS 2011.

Анализ, проведенный в рамках данного исследования, указывает на отсутствие всякой связи между использованием ИКТ и достижениями учащихся по математике и естественным наукам. Хотя связь между достижениями учащихся не является простым вопросом, который может быть раскрыт через простой регрессионный анализ, однако, результаты определенно указывают, что применение ИКТ в школах и в быту является незначительным фактором, который может быть легко компенсирован другими основными факторами, такими как: социально-экономические условия, ресурсы с инструкциями, возможности учителей, факторы культуры.

Ключевые слова: использование ИКТ; тесты TIMMS; учебные достижения учащихся; ИКТ в образовании; эффективность электронного обучения.

Introduction

Since the onset of the use of different forms of media, information and communication technologies in education, there has been a passionate debate on whether these technologies have any impact on the effectiveness of educational systems, and ultimately on students' academic achievements. A major cause for this debate has to do with the inability of neither side to strongly back their argument. This debate escalates even further when it occurs in the context of developing countries where most educational systems lack basic resources, and turned to be ineffective. This research in some way is a contribution to this debate through searching for indications that associate ICT use with students' academic achievements, based on the International TIMMS 2011 exam scores, in which hundreds of thousands of students have participated.

The question this research tries to answer has to do with the association between ICT use at school level and achievements in subject specific tests. The test selected are the most prestigious and credible TIMMS tests, which are globally recognized among the best tools to assess academic progress. The research will rely on a macroscopic analysis of students' achievements results in science and math test and the level of their ICT use both at their schools and household level. Correlation between computer and Internet use and TIMMS scores in subject specific, mainly math and science, will be analyzed.

The test allows students from grade 4 and grade 8 to participate. For the sake of our study, grade 8 has been selected, to ensure that students are mature enough in their computing skills and their abilities to use these skills to advance their education.

Literature Review

The World Bank information Technology Division (InfoDev) summarized the international community experience in using ICT for education as follows; “while impact on student achievements is still a matter of reasonable debate, nevertheless a consensus seems to argue that the introduction and use of ICTs in education can be useful to help promote and enable educational reform, (infoDev, 2005). This debate over the impact of ICT on education has resulted in research that produced varying results (e.g. see the review by Kulik, 2003).

Proponent of ICT in education argue that ICT make huge resources of information available for learners anytime anywhere, almost for free, and that is occurring at a pace that never been witnessed all throughout the history of humanity. However opponents of ICT in education claim that having these information sources available for students and people is something and utilizing them accordingly, e.g. in the course of education, is something else. Making information available for students will not attract them to act positively and transform this information into effective knowledge, as those researchers used to argue.

Pro- ICT people further argue that ICT use in school is crucial to equip students with the digital literacy skills needed for the information age, as suggested by Manuel Castells (Castells, 2009). These technologies can also be effective to improve understanding of difficult to grasp concepts, through the use of multi-modal and media representations, (M. Selinger, 2009). This argument is used by several sources to maintain that ICT can indeed be used to raise students' achievements, and therefore justify expenditure inflicted by these technologies. Some proponents of ICT in education even went beyond these arguments, for instance Sugata Mitra (2006) to claim that ICT can compensate for poorer quality teachers especially in rural areas. Many other proponents see ICT as a catalyst to reform pedagogy that was difficult to achieve through traditional means (Cornu, 1995, Joshi and Murthy 2004).

In opposition to that, there are groups who think that ICT is not a universal solution that can work in any context, and the use of ICT in teaching and learning is very much interrelated with the context, culture, values and people, who should act on these technologies to make them effective, since technology alone cannot make the difference as stated in Toyama, K. (2011), and Rabaya'h K. (2013).

Other researchers are moderate in their view in regards to ICT impact on education. They argue that these technologies amplify existing institutional and human factors, and do not create new ones, [Philip E. Agre (2002)]. There is no agency to technology, the agency should be to humans, and technology just has a magnifying effect. Technology cannot change human intent, human intent should be first in place then technology can take a role.

Defenders of the ICT use in education claim that ICT can stimulate learning on the individual level, particularly when implemented in a student-centered approach. Some other studies revealed that computer use can be more helpful for high achieving students when other educational resources are made available for them (ibid.). However, people of different nationalities and culture have different teaching and learning style, and therefore their comprehension and interaction with ICT tools are different, (K. Rabayah 2013, Selinger, 2004). This is why we should not consider ICT to impact educational systems the same way and to the same degree for all cases.

The use of ICT at school level and its prospective to facilitate teaching and learning has started to receive exceptional attention in educational circles in the last two decades (Eickelmann, 2011). In that respect two streams of research can be classified; firstly, learning how to use ICT and to equip learners with the 21st century skills (Cox, 2008, Fraillon & Ainley, 2009), and secondly, understanding how ICT-use can affect students' academic achievement (Voogt, 2008, Eickelmann & Schulz-Zander, 2008).

There are few baseline studies that can be cited in the area of monitoring and evaluating the impact of ICT on education and students performance, especially in the developing countries context. Farrell and Isaacs (2007) conducted a study that focused on the ICT-centered interventions in Africa. Wagner (2005) considers that there is a well-known ignorance of the consequences or impact of ICTs on education goals and targets. Unwin T. (2005), confirms the same argument and reveals that a relevant and credible knowledge in that area is needed to help policy makers make effective decision on the use of ICT for education.

On the theoretical level, scholars seem to agree on the potential benefits of ICT in education. In that regard they created long list of rationales for the use of IT in education, among them; social, vocational, pedagogical, catalytic, ICT industry, and the cost effective rationales, (J. Voogt, 2008). However, the issue among those scholars is not the potentiality of these technologies but rather the actual impact on students' performance, on which they seem to disagree. According to Dynarski et al. (2007), it is very difficult to provide convincing evidences on the impact of ICT on students' performance, and this is due to the fact that the use of ICT requires the mastery of complex cognitive skills, which cannot be measured by means of standardized tests. This trend is emphasized by Voogt & Knezek (2008), who assert that the confusion related to the contribution of ICT to students performance, has to do with the gap between intended, implemented, and attained curriculum. They stressed that there is substantial degradation in what has been attained, in contrast to what has been implemented and intended. They also tend to refer part of the difficulty in assessing the attained curriculum to the difficulty of measuring it using the standardized tests.

As far as basic education is concerned, two of the main targeted rationales are the social and pedagogical. In social rational the intention is to teach students how to be fluent in using ICT, while pedagogical is meant to teach how to use ICT to learn and acquire better knowledge and experiences. However, research has shown that teaching ICT as a separate subject will not help in using ICT effectively for learning academic concepts, since that will result in decontextualized approach. Therefore they call for teaching ICT skills through their use in teaching other academic subjects, (Hammond & Mumtaz, 2001). Other researchers, e.g. Watson (2001), believe that it is very difficult to do that since it requires teachers ability to cope with the social, pedagogical and catalytic rationales, which according to her create conflicting demands for teachers.

Scholars debate the role that ICT is supposed to contribute to education. Dede (2008) in his book described these roles per educational theory. The behaviorists believe ICT is better used to attune to the individual characteristics of learners, while cognitive theories demand to use ICT to cope with complex concepts and skills that cannot be attained by traditional means. Constructivists' theories on the other hand, assume that learners will use ICT to construct their knowledge and skills through active participation in the learning processes.

The consensus is that integrating ICT in the curricula is not a straightforward issue, and it requires the employment of huge resources, even in countries with high GDP. In that respect, Becker (2000) found that in many European countries and North America, the integration of ICT in the curriculum was hardly realized. Having access to computers does not mean that students are using these computers at all. The OECD (2006) study revealed that out of 32 countries participated in the PISA assessment international test, 10 countries use computers frequently, at least few times per week at school. For example, Van Kessel et al. (2005), investigated the use of computers in the Netherlands between 1997 and 2005, and reported that ICT is used mainly for word processing, browsing the web, and messaging.

As for the use of ICT in Math and Science classes, Cox and Webb (2004) described the best ways ICT is used in math, science, art and social sciences. He claims that the best way to exploit ICT in math classes is when it is used to facilitate mathematical reasoning and support connecting math ideas with the real world, and the best way to use these technologies to teach science is when they are used to visualize phenomena and processes, which could not be demonstrated to students other ways. Researchers like (Becta, 2001; Harrison et al., 2002; Christmann et al., 1997), believe that the use of ICT to teach science may have greater impact than other subjects, and the extensive use of ICT might result in improved attainment, (Christmann et al., 1997). However, (Alspaugh, 1999; Baggott La Velle et al., 2003) found no clear evidence on students' achievements for classes making more use of ICT in science classes. In contrast, Webb (2008) published an extensive review on the use of ICT in science education, and concluded that ICT has very limited impact on students' achievements. Among the reasons he emphasized; the availability of appropriate hardware and software, the difficulty in employing various technologies in the curriculum, and the teachers attitudes and competences to effectively employ these technologies.

As for math, most of the analysis reports found either no or negligible impact. Kulik (2003) studied the impact of ICT on teaching math, in addition to other disciplines, and found that even well-prepared and integrated learning systems slightly improved students' math scores. Dynarski et al. (2007) in their report to the US congress described the impact of commercial educational software on reading and math. They observed that test scores of classrooms who assigned to use software products did not vary from test scores in control classrooms by statistically significant margins. Cox et al. (2003) reported on a positive relationship of the use of ICT and students learning of specific math concepts and skills. However, these positive changes were found in only small scale and focused studies. The OECD (2006) report showed some level of correlation between math performance of 15 years old students and their access and use of computers. The same report found no clear association between mathematics performance and frequency of computer use. The report found that students with high and low of computer use scored lower than did students who had medium level of computer use. Eickelmann, et al. (2012) conducting an analysis in three countries in three different continents, Australia, Singapore, and Germany.

Her analysis arrived at conflicting results with no clear trends in the relation between ICT and math scores in TIMMS. A newly published paper from the same research team in Germany, Eickelmann, et al. (2014) using the 2011 TIMMS exam results, arrived at conflicting results in regards to the impact of the digital media of grade 4 students' achievements in math and science. The author came to the conclusion that the use of computer at home is not a facilitating factor for achievement in math and science in all countries. According to (ibid) the conflicting results are related to the very heterogeneity of the computer related policies of participating countries, and the missing link between technological, pedagogical, and content knowledge of teachers.

Generally speaking, in most cases of the use of ICT in education, initiatives start with high potential for curriculum, however, ended in big disappointment. For example, Nachmias et al. (2008) investigated 174 initiatives for using ICT in curriculum, and found that only in 18% of them, ICT influenced curriculum content and goals.

Research methodology

This research is devoted to address the question of the effectiveness of ICT on students' achievements as revealed by TIMMS results of the year 2011. In general, there are two main approaches to undertake this issue; self-assessment studies which survey the educational actors being students, teachers, and school administrators, and examining the students' academic achievements using test results. In literature it is mentioned that most research rely on educational actors self-assessments, and most of these reports declare positive trends, see for example Trucano, Michael (2005). In this research the strategy is to focus on the correlation between the degree of ICT deployment and the students' achievements as revealed by the TIMMS universal standard exams. TIMMS is administered by the international association for evaluation of educational achievements (IEA), and it is considered by far the most prestigious and reliable academic achievement testing organization in math and science.

The paper will rely on the latest TIMMS results of the year 2011, where 63 countries ranging from rich to poor participated. Nearly 900,000 students sat for the exam. Recently IEA started to involve teachers, school administrators, and parents in filling out questionnaires to help out understanding students achievements trends. TIMMS targeted students in the 4th and 8th grade with over 150 items measuring their knowledge and understanding in numbers, geometry, algebra data analysis and so forth.

The present research makes use of the published TIMMS results of 2011, as presented by Mullis, et al. (2012). As of the year 1995, IEA started to survey participating schools for their incorporation of ICT in teaching and learning processes. TIMMS 2011 score sheets incorporated degree of computer incorporation in classes, which allows researchers to investigate potential correlation between achievements in covered subjects and degrees of computer penetration in the participating schools.

Data obtained from the TIMMS were statistically analyzed using the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences SPSS. Regression analysis was performed to data of different countries and correlation between the different countries students' performance in math and science and the level of ICT use in their countries were investigated.

Research analysis and results

The paper will proceed through posing a series of hypothesis regarding the correlation between the use of ICT and students' achievements. Regression results based on the data collected from the TIMMS 2011are utilized to test whether these hypotheses can be supported. We relied on the collected data from Mullis, et al. (2012) which depicts students' achievements from the participating countries versus some factors as of the latest test results of the year 2011.

First hypothesis we wish to examine is whether there is a correlation of certain degree between students' performance in math and science and the level of PC penetration at their schools. The indicator used to represent the PC penetration is the PC to students' ratio as reported by the school principals. The TIMMS authority has discretized computer usage into 4 levels; 1-2 students per PC, 3-6 students per PC, larger than 6 students per PC, and No PCs. The percentage of students' falls in each level is recorded by the organizers alongside of their exam results.

Above summarizes the recorded results of students with the highest computer penetration, i.e. 1-2 students per PC, and their average achievements in the TIMMS math test for grade 8. The figure undoubtedly depicts no association of any kind between PC penetration level and TIMMS scores with a correlation square (R2) calculated to 0.09.

Remark the wide range of values around the regression line both along the TIMMS scores (vertical axis) for a certain level of PC penetration, and along the PC penetration (horizontal axis) for certain TIMMS score. For instance, there are countries who achieved a score of 500 points in TIMMS with PC penetration of 15%, 30%, 40%, 60%, 80%, and even 100%. The best fit (or trend) line crosses the y-axis at 440 point, which theoretically means that 440 can be achieved at 0% PC penetration.

The former experiment was conducted where the majority of countries took part in the assessment, yet, people might argue that only students in resourceful countries to whom all educational resources are made available might be affected by the presence of ICT at their schools. To test this thesis, the following experiment was devised. In this experiment, only countries who achieved 500 and above were selected. The hypothesis we are testing is that students who achieved higher in TIMMS are more affected with the presence of computers and IT than others.

Yet again the result shows no sign that higher PCs penetration scored high. Higher percentage of PC privileged students does not have any significance on the average of their achievement. The trend is even reversed, such that countries with higher PC penetration recorded lower scores. A correlation of -0.51 is calculated, showing anti-correlation.

To gain further insight into the impact of ICT on students' achievements and to test the preceding results in a way to generalize them, we analyzed the students' achievements trends versus wide range of students-to-PC ratios. The correlation between the percentage of students with 1-2 PC, 3-6, and >6 PCs and their TIMMS scores in math at the 8th grade. Once more no correlation can be inferred. What is remarkable about this diagram is that the trend lines that represent each level are almost lying on top of each other's, which additionally emphasizes our initial findings that there is no clear association between computer use and students' achievements. In fact, the line which represents the best student-to-PC ratio lies below the two others.

So far association is tested across different countries, however, some people might argue that it is not wise to contrast different countries with each other's as they might have different settings, cultures, beliefs, practices, etc. Thus, testing each country records in regards to the correlation of PC penetration and TIMMS score might infer a more realistic image. This leads us to a new hypothesis which states that higher penetration of PCs at school of the same country leads to better TIMMS scores.

The marks that represent the computer penetration level are that line on top of each other's, where the triangle represents the 1-2, the diamond represents the 3-5, and the solid black circles represent the >6 students per PC. Again there are no clear trend in how these marks are lining up, which further indicate that the difficulty in securing correlation between computer penetration level and students score in Math.

academic achievement information technology

Correlation between average students' achievement and the level of computer usage for instruction in their schools as revealed by the TIMMS scores for grade 8