Students Perceptions of Mathematics Learning Using Mobile Phones

By: N. Baya’a and W. Daher

Source: www.imcl-conference.org / https: pdfs.semanticscholar.org

Submitted by:
Richard P. Landagan
BSE – Mathematics

Background of the Study

Mobile Learning can guide a learner to an authentic learning context and incorporate the field
objects with closely related information in the handheld device to initiate the process of knowledge
acquisition (Ting, R.Y.-L, 2007). In this study, we want to study the students’ perceptions of
mathematics learning when their knowledge acquisition is initiated by authentic activities during
which they use mobile phone features in real-life situations.
Little research has been done regarding student’s mathematical learning using mobile phones,
especially research that involves middle school students. This research aims to understand how
middle school students perceive such learning.
Authentic Learning Eble (1994) claims that students better understand and apply studied
materials when they are engaged in real world issues and situation. Quitadamo & Brown (2001)
point out that authentic situtations and scenarios provide stimulus for students’ learning and thus
create greater motivation and excitement for this process. They also state that representing and
stimulating real-world problems, provides an important context for students’ thinking.

Objective of the Study

The purpose of this study was to determine the perceptions of the students regarding their
mathematics learning using mobile phones.
The aim is clearly expressed, which clearly focused on how students perceive such learning. It is
recommended that the references on this study shall contain up-to-date information since most
of the sources cited are from more than 10 years ago. The rule of thumb is to go back at most
five to six years. Most of all cited works should be less than five years old (Milojevic, 2010).
The purpose of literature review is to place each work in context of its contribution to
understanding the research problem being studied, describe the relationship of each work to the
others under consideration and resolve conflicts amongst seemingly contradictory previous
studies (Labaree, 2009).

Methodology
The researchers selected 32 eighth grade students to participate in the experiment. The selection
was done based on the interest of the students and the ownership of appropriate cellular phones.
The learning was done by carrying out outdoor activities that involved exploring and investigating
mathematics concepts and relations of real-life phenomena.
The researchers used the following means and tools to collect data regarding the participants’
learning of mathematics using phones:
Blog: the students were required to comment on and document their mathematics learning using
mobile phones.
Interview with the students: the researchers interviewed each participant for thirty minutes about
his/her mathematics learning using mobile phones.
The researchers used discoursed analysis (Wetherell & Potter, 1988) and grounded theory
(Strauss & Corbin, 1998) to identify the students’ perceptions regarding the mathematics learning
using mobile phones.
Discourse Analysis is “an analysis which studies practices of producing knowledge and meaning
in concrete contexts and institutions” (Talja, 1999), and adds: “Discourse analysis systematizes
different ways of talking in order to make visible the perspectives and starting points on the basis
of which knowledge and meanings are produced in a particular historical moment. It pays attention
to the way in which discourses produce and transform social reality, and makes it possible to
evaluate the practical consequences of different ways of approaching a particular phenomenon.”
In general, the grounded theory has three stages: Open coding in which identification of repeated
behaviors can be characterized; Axial coding is done after identifying the categories and
characterizing them; Selective coding is done after refining the categories, subcategories and
their characteristics and relations. But in this study the researchers only used the first two stages
of the grounded theory to arrive at the various characteristics of the mathematics learning using
mobile phones perceived by the students.

Findings
The researchers enumerated the results of the study, each integrating evidences such as
comment and documenting in blog and interview excerpts. The results of perceptions of the
students at the beginning of the experiment indicates that the students perceive various qualities
of the mathematics learning using mobile phones as reasons for liking learning and expecting the
success of the experiment. The results of perceiving the teacher’s characteristics as reason for
liking the experiment and identifying with it indicates that other students perceived characteristics
of the researchers and some learning qualities as reasons for liking mathematics learning using
mobile phones and identifying with the experiment. The results of perceptions of the students
after experiencing some activities show that many students perceived the characteristics of
learning environment and qualities of the learning process as reasons for mathematics learning
using mobile phones and identifying with the experiment. The results of characteristics of the
environment of mathematics learning using mobile phones as perceived by the students in the
experiment according to their comments in blogs and excerpts of interview were: it introduces
novel learning that breaks the routine; it enables independent learning; it encourages collaborative
learning; it is a societal and humanistic environment; it enables exploration of mathematics; it
enables outdoor mathematics; it enables learning mathematics visually or/and dynamically; it
engages the mathematics student in various mathematical actions; and it makes learning
mathematics easy and takes less time. Presentation of these qualitative results also included
various literature reviews that strengthened the findings of the study. The summary was illustrated
in table form and graphic organizer.

Conclusions
The novelty of the experiment and the use of mobile phones in mathematics learning were the
main characteristics perceived by the students as influencing their decision to join the experiment.
Regarding the students’ perception of mathematics learning using mobile phones as a result of
carrying out the outdoor activities, the students perceived the following aspects of their learning
experience: the relation among the students, the relation between the student and the teacher,
and the relation between the learning material. Regarding each aspect the students perceived
different characteristics of it.
The students perceived various qualities such as: (1) exploring mathematics independently (2)
learning mathematics through collaboration and team work; where collaboration is on equal terms
(3) learning mathematics is a societal and humanistic environment (4) learning mathematics in
authentic real life situations (5) visualizing mathematics and investigating it dynamically (6)
performing diversified mathematical actions using new and advanced technologies (7) learning
mathematics easily and efficiently.

Recommendation
After experiencing the novel use of mobile phones in mathematics learning, we strongly believe
that a lot of opportunities and potentials are yet to be realized. In spite of the disruption that these
devices could cause in the teaching learning process in the classroom, we believe that banning
these devices is not the solution. We should keep studying the pedagogy behind the use of mobile
devices in the actual educational environment, and develop appropriate activities that utilize these
devices efficiently and proficiently in th teaching learning process.

PROPOSED RESEARCHED TITLE:

• Students’ Knowledge and Perception of Mathematics Using Educational Related
Softwares
• Effectiveness of Integrating Educational Related Softwares In Teaching and Learning
Process in Mathematics Education