Aptness between Teaching Roles and Teaching Strategies in ICT-Integrated Science Lessons

Abstract

Teachers' perceptions about their roles may serve to support or oppose the integration of new practices while using Information and Communication Technologies (ICT). To investigate this assertion, we followed the work of six leading teachers in their classrooms during a period of one academic year. By applying the descriptive-interpretive methodology we examined the teachers' role perception and their teaching strategies. The research tools included teachers' interviews, classroom observations, and an aptness matrix that was specially developed for this study. The qualitative analysis focused on four literature-based categories that indicate teachers' roles: guide, motivator, partner, and innovator. In addition, the analysis focused on four constructivist teaching strategies: visualization, problem-solving, inquiry, and reflective learning. Findings indicated that in the ICT lessons, teachers mainly act as guides and motivators while applying two teaching strategies: visualization and problem-solving. Only few teachers felt as innovators and only one teacher applied reflective learning. We demonstrate how the aptness matrix corresponds to the ACOT model for teachers' assimilation of ICT and how it can help teachers identify their own level of ICT implementation while promoting constructivist teaching and learning in their classrooms.