Development of Technology Integration Practices of Beginning Secondary Science Teachers: Analyzing Gateways and Barriers in the First Five Years

As current educational policies continue to emphasize the importance of technology integration and inquiry-based instruction, it is essential to understand how beginning secondary science teachers’ classroom practices develop during the first five years of teaching. This multimethod, sequential explanatory study examined the factors associated with teachers’ technology integration practices using the Interconnected Model of Teacher Professional Growth (Clarke & Hollingworth, 2002). Data were collected from teachers who graduated from one of two education programs in a large, Midwestern public university in the United States. Teachers’ concerns about technology integration were measured using the Stages of Concern Questionnaire (SoCQ) (George, Hall, & Stiegelbauer, 2006). There were statistically significant group differences by (a) teachers’ sex, (b) teaching experience, (c) 1:1 device availability, and (d) teachers’ perceived level of implementation in specific stages of concerns. The association between participation in technology-related professional development activities and reported frequency of technology integration per week was statistically significant. Factors associated with levels of technology integration in the classroom were analyzed using multilevel models of 493 observed science lessons nested within 57 teachers. Data on the levels of technology integration and application types were generated from classroom observation field notes from 2012 to 2017 via protocol coding. Type I technology applications were typically used by teachers although physics lessons tend to be taught with Type II applications (Maddux, Johnson, & Willis, 1997). Common teaching practices reflected the Entry level of technology integration (Welsh, Harmes, & Winkleman, 2016). Higher levels of technology integration were associated with increasing teaching experience and block scheduling. Gateways and barriers to higher levels of technology integration were explored through interviews of a purposeful sample of three teachers and eight high school students. Gateways identified by teachers were (a) professional development activities, (b) technology coordinators, (c) professional learning community of teachers, (d) age, (e) science background, (f) perceived personal benefits of technology, and (g) perceived benefits of technology to students. Barriers were (a) age/teaching experience, (b) added work, (c) abundance of extraneous technology, (d) lack of exposure, and (e) student behaviors. Student interviews revealed that technology integration resulted to positive perceptions about their own competence, their teacher, their school, and the impact of technology to their learning of science