The Effects of Teacher Calculator Use in Mathematics Classrooms and Assessment
Creators: name: Ulrich, Monika E
Publisher: name: University of Illinois at Chicago
Year: 2023

description: The National Council of Teachers of Mathematics (NCTM), has made an effort to increase the use of technology and the use of calculators into the classroom and curriculum. As a result, many studies and articles have been written on the subject of calculator use in the classroom. A review of over 600 studies revealed that it is not curricula that determine when and how often a student uses a calculator in the classroom, but it is based on when and how often a teacher believes a student should use the calculator. This dissertation responds to the need for informing instruction with data-based decision making by determining if students having calculators available to use during lessons causes higher math achievement scores when compared to students without calculators available during lessons, and providing evidence for determining which activities have and don't have an impact on math achievement based on frequency of calculator use in the classroom. This study utilizes 2-level hierarchical linear modeling using propensity score subclassification matching methods for 13 HLM random effects models and 13 HLM fixed effects models. Of these 26 models, a model comparison of the AIC, \text{AICc}, and BIC revealed that the models with the higher predictive utility were the 13 random effects models. Due to multiple hypothesis tests, all of the reported p-values for the results of this study use the False Discovery Rate (FDR) adjusted p-values. Based on the random effects models, the results of this study revealed that having access to calculators in the classroom during instruction does not cause higher math scores on the TIMSS 2015 Advanced Assessment (p-value=0.265). The frequency that teachers use calculators in their classroom for processing and analyzing data impacts student scores on the TIMSS 2015 Advanced Assessment. More specifically, students who have teachers that use a calculator for analyzing data at least once a week during classroom instruction, cause higher math scores when compared to teachers that use the calculator for analyzing data less than once a week during classroom instruction (p-value=0.0351). The frequency that teachers use calculators in their classroom for drawing graphs of functions impacts student scores on the TIMSS 2015 Advanced Assessment (p-value=0.0001). Furthermore, any frequency of calculator use by the teacher during instruction for drawing graphs of functions causes higher scores on the TIMSS 2015 Advanced Assessment (p-value=0.0190). The frequency that teachers use calculators in their classroom for performing numerical integration impacts student scores on the TIMSS 2015 Advanced Assessment (p-value=0.0007). Furthermore, any frequency of calculator use by the teacher during instruction for numerical integration causes higher scores on the TIMSS 2015 Advanced Assessment (p-value=0.0351). For other activities that teachers may use calculators in the classroom during instruction, such as solving equations, manipulating algebraic expressions, and conducting modeling and simulations, the frequency that a teacher uses a calculator during instruction does not impact or cause higher math scores on the TIMSS 2015 Advanced Assessment. Based on the results of this study, suggestions are provided for when and how often teachers should use calculators in the classroom for certain activities for increasing math scores on the TIMSS 2015 Advanced Assessment. Finally, the HLM results demonstrate the impact that teachers can have on student test scores when using calculators in the classroom for certain activities.