The focus of this PhD study is teachers’ knowledge and how it is involved in interacting with technology to produce the mathematical knowledge made available in the classroom. Contrasting connectionist and transmissionist teachers’ use of technology provides a means of making such knowledge visible, allowing an exploration of the nature and content of mathematical knowledge for teaching using technology. In addition, this study examines how and to what extent the mathematical knowledge made available through a teacher’s interaction with technology is distributed across the teacher and technology. The first, quantitative phase of the project surveyed English secondary mathematics teachers’ use of technology (n=183). Using Rasch analysis to construct a transmissionist measure of self-reported pedagogic practice, a surprising association is found between frequent use of teacher-centred software and a more connectionist orientation. The survey data also suggests that ‘teacher-centred’ practices involving ICT may instead be construed as ‘dominant’ practices, since they are most frequently occurring across all teachers. In the second, qualitative phase of the project, two connectionist and two transmissionist teachers were selected as case studies on the basis of their responses to the survey instrument. Data collection involved a semi-structured interview based around a GeoGebra file on circle theorems, two classroom observations and postobservation interviews. Data analysis using the TPACK framework suggests the nature of mathematical knowledge for teaching using technology as abstract, mathematical knowledge and yet simultaneously as mathematical knowledge situated in the context of teaching using technology. Using the Knowledge Quartet, a conceptualisation of the content of mathematical knowledge for teaching using technology in relation to the topic of circle theorems is developed, demonstrating the highly complex nature of such knowledge. Ameliorating this complexity, this study provides indications of how a distributed view of cognition might offer potential strategies for facilitating teacher interaction with technology.

This study explores the ways in which the introduction of technology-enhanced task design may affect the motivation of students to read in English and encourage more autonomous approaches to reading in English in an Anatolian High School. The subjects investigated were Grade 9 students whose level of English was between A2 and B 1 according to the criteria set out in the Common European Framework of Reference for Language Learning. Seventy participants engaged with specifically designed reading tasks. This case study draws on several theoretical frameworks: Deci and Ryan's self-determination theory (1985), Gardner's socio-educational model with regard to motivation (1985), imd notions of learner autonomy (Kohonen, 1992; Little, 1991; Ho1ec, 1981). Furthermore, the approach to designing the reading tasks was informed by Hampel's comprehensive expansion (2006) of Chapelle's theoretical framework (2000). Data collection and processing followed an exploratory case study approach applying mixed-method design using questionnaires (N = 70) given before and after use of specially designed, technology-enhanced tasks, pre-task interviews (N = 2), post-task interviews (N = 6), class blog discussions, and a researcher journal. Quantitative data were summarised and reported as average percentages. The differences in median scores for pre- and post- introduction of technology enhanced tasks were statistically tested using a Mann-Whitney U test. Thematic analysis was used in order to identify, analyse and report themes in qualitative data collected for this study. The qualitative data were transcribed and then imported into the qualitative data analysis software package NVivo 10, which allowed for the data from the transcripts to be coded to the main themes and sub-themes. Analysis of the results indicates that despite the prevailing traditional behaviourist approach to teaching, these particular Turkish Anatolian High School students were able and willing to exercise control over the learning of English, and that their intrinsic motivation to engage in reading tasks was increased through technology-enhanced, task-based language learning. This study contributes to the knowledge and understanding of learners ' motivation and autonomy when technology enhanced language learning tasks are introduced into a traditional learning context.

This research aims to rethink e-learning strategy in the digital age by taking The Future School Project in The Kingdom of Bahrain as a case study and by investigating and evaluating e-learning strategies. In the Digital Age, the new technologies of web 2.0 (such as Facebook, blog, YouTube, etc.) have changed the learning landscape, where learners are becoming active participants and creators of knowledge. Many claims and suggestion have made about learning potential of Web 2.0 tools and technologies, however, these claims and suggestions have not been based on research evidence. New research is critical because many learning institutions and schools are making significant investments in e-learning; however, changes in the learning process have been incremental rather than transformational, mainly due to the lack of strategic direction. The research approach adopted in this dissertation includes (1) Observations and Document Analysis, (2) Interviews Stakeholders and (3) Questionnaires (Staffs, Teachers and Students). The findings show how teachers and students are using ICTs in learning. Moreover, they explain another factor which has an impact on the successful integration of technology in e-learning: this factor is the gaps between e-learning policy, the actual practice of teachers, and students’ practice; these three worlds are very far apart. Also the findings show that Web 2.0 could bridge the gap between digital natives and the educational system leading to successful integration of technology in learning. Furthermore, it explains the role of Web 2.0 in learning and provides an e-learning strategic framework for evaluating e-learning. The research recommends (1) Using social network sites Facebook and video sharing site YouTube in learning, (2) Triangulation of e-learning policy, teacher practice and students practice, (4) Rethinking using current ICTs, and (5) Encouraging and monitoring teachers using ICTs.

Although researchers, teachers and policy makers broadly agree on the benefits of collaborative learning, there appears to be less clarity regarding how effective collaboration can be realised at classroom scale. Research in Computer-Supported Collaborative Learning (CSCL), Human-Computer Interaction (HCI), simulation-based learning and related fields has produced a considerable range of applications that aim to support collaboration in classrooms. Grounded in well-established theories of how humans learn, many such applications have shown promising results within the context of small research studies. However, most of those research-driven applications never matured beyond the prototype stage and few are available today as products that schools can easily use and adopt. Many systems lack flexibility or require too much time, hardware, technical skills or other resources to be effectively implemented. Furthermore, teachers can be overwhelmed by managing large groups of students engaged in complex, computer-supported tasks. This thesis investigates how forms of whole-classroom activity can be supported by combining shareable technologies with simulation, team play and orchestration. New designs are explored to help large groups engage and discuss at multiple scales (from pairs and small groups to the entire classroom) in ways that effectively include each student and use the teacher's limited resources efficiently. Moreover, this research aims to devise and validate a conceptual framework that can guide future design, orchestration and evaluation of such activities. Three in-situ studies were conducted to address these goals. The first study involved the design of a climate change simulation to support a professional training course. Iterative design and video analysis resulted in the formulation of the Collaborative Learning Orchestration for Verbal Engagement and Reflection (CLOVER) framework. This framework comprises a suite of conceptual tools and recommendations that aim to help designers and teachers create, orchestrate and evaluate decision-based simulations for whole-classroom use. Two follow-up studies were conducted to validate the usability and usefulness of CLOVER. One of them aimed to replicate the previous findings in a similar context and resulted in the design of a sustainable, whole-classroom simulation for students to discuss finance decisions. The other used CLOVER to expand an existing desktop application (a~language comprehension task for children) to classroom scale. In sum, the three studies provide substantial empirical evidence, suggesting that CLOVER-based applications can effectively reconcile learning needs (collaboration) and technological affordances (shareable devices) with the inherent benefits and constraints of teacher-driven, co-located environments. Furthermore, the findings contribute to a better understanding of what it means to design for sustainability in this context.

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Researchers working in child computer interaction are constantly seeking new methods and new techniques that will enable them to carry out more valid and more reliable research. Much of this research typically considers the design and development of new products and of new interactive techniques and researchers seek to understand how easy such innovations are for children, how much fun they are to use and how attractive they may be for use. The impact of prior technology use on the children’s responses in those contexts is the core concern of this thesis. The thesis provides a set of tools (survey instruments and guidelines) that can be used by the CCI research community to ascertain the prior experience of children with any technology and with any task. These tools are generated using theory, experience and literature and are validated through user studies. The PETT survey tool comprises three questionnaires, CTEQ, CTUQ and CTHQ and an associated user guide that clearly articulates how to use PETT and demonstrates the flexibility of PETT to be used in many contexts. The guidelines (RWC, SWC and SRT) can be applied on three levels, for general use in research with children, in the design of surveys and in the specifics of designing self-report tools for prior technology experience.

Educational design-based research (DBR) posits classrooms as ‘learning ecologies’, and is distinguished by its ambition to design rather than simply describe them. However critics point to a lack of specificity as to the ontological status of these environments and in the argumentative grammar by which theory and method are coordinated to this end (Sandoval 2014). This thesis advances a model for DBR at programme level, coordinating ethnographic methods and single subject experiments in the design and research of learning ecologies involving the interpretation of narrative in classrooms. Section One begins with the ‘teaching dilemma’ that inspired the research. This is then reconceptualised as a subtype of ‘interpretive dilemma’- a dynamically changing problem space whose structural and relational dimensions are realised in the symbols by which people position themselves and others in the course of their interactions. On this basis, interpretive dilemmas are proposed as a unit of analysis for the research of learning ecologies in general and, specifically, those that may remediate students’ restricted orientation to narrative texts. Each of the following three sections is given over to a different DBR output relating to the design and research of a dilemmatic pedagogy for narrative interpretation. Section Two advances a ‘domain theory’ which models the role code may play in the realisation of interpretive dilemmas in school. Section Three sets out the ‘design methodology’ by which prototype materials derived from this theory can be researched and developed. Microgenetic analysis of video recorded rapid prototyping sessions in Section Four serves to identify ways that the ‘design framework’ can be addressed to particular micro-ecologies during the subsequent field trial proposed in Section Five.

This study presents an action research project on the teaching and learning of fundamental ideas about electric circuits, gathering data from two cohorts. Students’ ideas were probed using diagnostic test questions asked in pre-tests, post-tests and delayed post-tests. Semi-structured interviews were used with students of different abilities to indicate the mental models that students appeared to be using. Additional teaching activities were introduced with Cohort 1. The effect of these activities was reflected upon, guiding further additions to teaching activities used with Cohort 2. These activities addressed specific points that seemed to pose particular difficulties for students with the aim of improving students’ qualitative understanding through guided reflection and discussion. The performance of Cohort 2 was significantly weaker at the pre-test stage but Cohort 2 made better overall progress through the course of study when compared with Cohort 1. Both cohorts made noticeable improvement in their understanding of current conservation. However, problems with parallel circuits and with distinguishing between potential difference (p.d.) and current remained. While p.d. was described by the high ability students in terms of forces between negative charges and the battery terminals, no student referred to the electric field which exists between battery terminals even in open circuit. In attempting to understand the behaviour of electric circuits, students appear first to construct a mental model of electric current. The data collected suggest that students start to understand p.d. when they ‘see’ it as some kind of difference between points. The data also suggest that the scientific model of p.d. is more difficult to visualise and use, putting p.d. at a higher level than current, in a logical hierarchy of ideas. This study proposes a unified learning model for electric circuits, in terms of a possible sequence of intermediate mental models of current, resistance and p.d. leading towards the scientific view. This learning model can help both students and teachers. Students can use it to gauge their level of understanding of circuits and to reflect on what still needs to be understood. Teachers may use the learning model as a tool helping in understanding the difficulties students experience and guiding in what next to teach to improve students’ understanding of electric circuits.

The main research question addressed in this thesis is how the choice of game type influences the success of digital educational games (DEG), where success is defined as significant knowledge gain in combination with positive player experience. Games differ in type if they differ at least by one game feature. As a first step we identified a comprehensive set of unique game features, summarised in the Game Elements-Attributes Model (GEAM), where elements are the defining components that all games share (e.g. Challenges) and attributes are their possible implementation (e.g. time pressure). To deepen the understanding of relationships amongst game features, we conducted a survey based on the GEAM and received 321 responses. Using hierarchical clustering, we grouped 67 games, selected by the survey respondents, in terms of similarity and mapped the identified clusters on a 2D space to visualise their difference in distance from each other. On the resulting Game Genre Map, five main areas were detected, which proved to conform mostly to a selection of existing game genres. By specifying their GEAM attributes, we redefined these genres: Mini-game, Action, Adventure, Resource, and Role-play. Based on the aforementioned groundwork, two empirical studies were conducted. Study 1 compared three DEGs of the Mini-game genre, differing in a single GEAM attribute - time pressure vs. puzzle solving and abstract vs. realistic graphics. Study 2 compared DEGs of different genres which vary in the implementation of several GEAM attributes. For both studies, statistically significant differences were found in learning outcome, for Study 2 also in the player experience dimensions: Flow, Tension, Challenge, and Negative Affect. However, the influences of the covariates - learning and play preconditions, learning style, and personality traits - were not confirmed. Further research based on the methodological frameworks developed is needed.

This study is on using information and communication technology (ICT) in science education in Iceland. The requirement that ICT be utilized in teaching has only been met to a limited extent though schools appear to be well equipped. Data was collected through a mixed methods approach including a survey, interviews, and an intervention with eight science teachers. The study showed that teachers use equipment available to them but access to computers for pupils’ use is limited. The uses are primarily researching selected topics on the internet for writing essays or other products, watching video-clips and taking photos. Use of science specific applications is rare. Support structures for science teachers are weak and CPD opportunities scarce. Teachers have positive views towards ICT in teaching science. However there are considerable barriers to technology integration, teacher knowledge is a central element and resources, support and time are major factors affecting teachers’ use of technology. Four cases are explored through cultural historical activity theory, analysing the contradictions that are at work in the context of teaching science with ICT. This analysis illustrates how resources, knowledge and more latent factors are pivotal in the extent and proficiency of teachers’ technology use. Three interventions with a quasi-experimental design explore the effectiveness of a selection of digital learning resources (DLR). The results show that benefits from using DLR’s vary. In two topics the experimental classes scored significantly higher than the comparison classes but in the third it was the opposite. The findings indicate that DLR’s will have a more positive effect on learning results the more interactive features they contain. A further finding from the research concerns the expertise and impact of the science teachers’ pedagogical content knowledge (PCK). Perhaps not surprisingly, pupils of teachers with strong PCK tended to score higher, indicating that successful ICT based learning is related to teacher PCK.