The challenge for educators is to prepare students for life in a technological advanced society that will continue to change exponentially. Work requirements have changed and computer skills have become a basic requirement for a majority of jobs. As computers have become more prevalent in everyday life and in the work place, their use has gained in importance around the world. Kuwait, like other countries, has recognised the need to increase the technological background of its students to compete better in world markets. This research recognises the importance of ICT in Education and realises the difficulties involved in its effective adoption. For that reason, it presents an empirical study of the ICT adoption process by examining perceived innovation attributes, and the relationship of individual characteristics in this process. The theory that supports the research effort is Rogers' theory of Diffusion of Innovation, which was used as the theoretical framework to hypothesise a model of ICT adoption. This model is called the ICT ARABIA Model (ICT Adoption using Rogers' model, and Bringing In Addition), and was designed to elicit the relative importance of the perceived innovation attributes in influencing ICT adoption in Mathematics education. The empirical context of the research is 259 participants in mathematics departments, which are analysed using quantitative and qualitative research approaches. Results indicated that the ICT ARABIA Model was most useful in explaining ICT adoption by mathematics departments. The relative importance of each factor of the ICT ARABIA Model was determined by rank ordering the mean importance scores for each factor. However, an additional factor emerged, and this was leadership. Also, demographic characteristics were found non-significant predictors of ICT adoption. These findings highlighted many issues for further study. The main concern was regarding the importance of the perceptions of innovation attributes in influencing the ICT adoption in mathematics education; however, leadership was also an influential factor, which resulted from interviews. Those interested in programme innovation and change in educational departments may need to focus on finding a strong leader to help in the process.

Orientador: Miriam Godoy Penteado / Banca: Norma Suely Gomes Allevato / Banca: Geraldo Perez / Resumo: Esta pesquisa tem por objetivo entender como um grupo de estudos, formado por professores e por pesquisadores, planeja e desenvolve atividades matemáticas para um ambiente informatizado. Para sua realização foi formado um grupo, em Cidade de Goiás - GO, composto por oito pessoas: um professor de matemática do ensino médio, seis licenciandas em matemática e o pesquisador. Os dados da pesquisa são oriundos de informações das reuniões do grupo, de roteiros de atividades elaborados pelo grupo e de entrevistas individuais com cada participante. Esses dados foram coletados por meio de gravações em vídeo tanto das reuniões do grupo quanto das entrevistas individuais, das anotações do pesquisador e da produção do grupo. O estudo de pesquisas sobre ensino de funções com o uso do computador contribuiu para que o grupo produzisse roteiros e organizasse um mini-curso apresentado em encontro científico de professores de matemática. Os roteiros foram organizados visando a orientar os alunos a compartilharem e discutirem suas idéias e conclusões durante o desenvolvimento das atividades propostas. Eles foram pensados para serem desenvolvidos com a utilização do software Winplot, por meio de uma abordagem investigativa, e tratam do estudo: do plano cartesiano; de par ordenado; de gráficos de funções do 1º e 2º graus. Este trabalho destaca que a dinâmica de grupos de estudos de professores de matemática pode ser uma forma eficiente para se discutir as dificuldades relacionadas ao trabalho docente e para a busca de alternativas pedagógicas para o ensino e para a aprendizagem dessa disciplina. / Abstract: This research aims to understand how a study group of teachers and researchers plan and develop mathematics activities for computer lab classes. For this reason, a study group was formed in Cidade de Goiás, Goiás State, in Brazil. The group was made up of high school mathematics teacher, six under-graduated in mathematics and the researcher. The data were collected from group meetings, activities schedules build up by the group, and individual interviews applied to each participant. Data were registered through video recordings, researcher's notes, and the group production. Research theory about the teaching of functions through computer supported the group in the production of plans and in the organization of a workshop presented in the Mathematics Teachers Scientific Seminar. Plans were aimed at helping students in sharing and discussing their ideas and conclusions during the suggested activities. Plans were conceived for using the Winplot software as part of an investigation approach, referring to Cartesian plan, order pairs, linear and quadratic functions. This research points out that a mathematics teacher study group may provide an efficient way of discussing difficulties related to teaching and a way of searching for pedagogical alternatives both for teaching and learning this school subject. / Mestre

Made available in DSpace on 2014-06-11T19:24:52Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 0 Previous issue date: 2009-03-11Bitstream added on 2014-06-13T18:21:25Z : No. of bitstreams: 1 lima_lf_me_rcla.pdf: 1045127 bytes, checksum: 5928a908fea3bb56d8b5b8acd46923c2 (MD5) / Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq) / Esta pesquisa tem por objetivo entender como um grupo de estudos, formado por professores e por pesquisadores, planeja e desenvolve atividades matemáticas para um ambiente informatizado. Para sua realização foi formado um grupo, em Cidade de Goiás – GO, composto por oito pessoas: um professor de matemática do ensino médio, seis licenciandas em matemática e o pesquisador. Os dados da pesquisa são oriundos de informações das reuniões do grupo, de roteiros de atividades elaborados pelo grupo e de entrevistas individuais com cada participante. Esses dados foram coletados por meio de gravações em vídeo tanto das reuniões do grupo quanto das entrevistas individuais, das anotações do pesquisador e da produção do grupo. O estudo de pesquisas sobre ensino de funções com o uso do computador contribuiu para que o grupo produzisse roteiros e organizasse um mini-curso apresentado em encontro científico de professores de matemática. Os roteiros foram organizados visando a orientar os alunos a compartilharem e discutirem suas idéias e conclusões durante o desenvolvimento das atividades propostas. Eles foram pensados para serem desenvolvidos com a utilização do software Winplot, por meio de uma abordagem investigativa, e tratam do estudo: do plano cartesiano; de par ordenado; de gráficos de funções do 1º e 2º graus. Este trabalho destaca que a dinâmica de grupos de estudos de professores de matemática pode ser uma forma eficiente para se discutir as dificuldades relacionadas ao trabalho docente e para a busca de alternativas pedagógicas para o ensino e para a aprendizagem dessa disciplina. / This research aims to understand how a study group of teachers and researchers plan and develop mathematics activities for computer lab classes. For this reason, a study group was formed in Cidade de Goiás, Goiás State, in Brazil. The group was made up of high school mathematics teacher, six under-graduated in mathematics and the researcher. The data were collected from group meetings, activities schedules build up by the group, and individual interviews applied to each participant. Data were registered through video recordings, researcher’s notes, and the group production. Research theory about the teaching of functions through computer supported the group in the production of plans and in the organization of a workshop presented in the Mathematics Teachers Scientific Seminar. Plans were aimed at helping students in sharing and discussing their ideas and conclusions during the suggested activities. Plans were conceived for using the Winplot software as part of an investigation approach, referring to Cartesian plan, order pairs, linear and quadratic functions. This research points out that a mathematics teacher study group may provide an efficient way of discussing difficulties related to teaching and a way of searching for pedagogical alternatives both for teaching and learning this school subject.