Making Mathematics Learning More Engaging for Students in Health Schools through the Use of Apps

Abstract

This paper reports on an aspect of a case study of four 11-to-13-year-old students of a Regional Health School (RHS) in New Zealand, using apps on their own mobile devices as part of their mathematics programs. It considers the issue of engaging students in mathematical learning when they are recovering from significant health issues. The paper examines the influence of apps on these students' engagement with mathematical learning through the facilitation of differentiated learning programs. The research design was a case study with semi-structured interviews, questionnaires and observation used to generate the data. A number of themes arose from the data including both the positive and negative influences of apps on student engagement and the influence of apps on facilitating differentiated learning programs. The results indicated that using apps for mathematics had a positive influence on student engagement for most students. The positive student engagement seemed to be partly due to the apps' ability to support differentiated learning.

Growing Media Skills and Know-How in Situ: Technology-Enhanced Practices and Collaborative Support in Mobile News-Reporting

“…The need for constant and on-demand support in these technologies and generally for the cultivation of digital literacy is among the contemporary priorities of the society. Furthermore, the proliferation of mobile devices (smartphones and tablets) and their communicative capabilities have intensified their role in technology-enhanced learning and everyday informatory services [1,[6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13]. In this direction, mobile journalism (mojo) forms a representative example, in which both new tools (i.e., mojo apps for journalists and targeted audience) and learning resources have to be produced, shaped, and adapted to the users' needs and preferences [14][15][16].…”

Perspectives for effective integration of e-learning tools in university mathematics instruction for developing countries

“…In Table 2, we present the mean (standard deviation) of paired t tests we ran on various attributes to ascertain students' perspectives before and after the elearning intervention. The attributes were selected partly based on the work done by Willacy and Calder (2017). We see that students' likeability of mathematics, ability to try out new problems in mathematics on their own, interest in using e-learning tools in mathematics, increased understanding and increased ability to solve problems had the highest rating among students and were statistically significant (all have p value <0.05).…”

The Influence of Math Anxiety and Reduction Strategies to the Teacher Education Students'

“…Most individuals with mathematics apprehensiveness are beyond elementary school age. Calder and Campbell (2015), Hilmi and Hamzah (2016) and Willacy and Calder (2017) stated that the dislike of mathematics and reluctance to participate in activities is more prevalent in middle school, providing a challenge to teachers. In 2014, Shamoon cited that anxious teachers spend lesser time teaching mathematics and are more likely to pass their phobia to their students.…”

“…Accordingly, math anxiety is a tension and anxiety on manipulating numbers and solving mathematical problems. The negative feelings towards mathematics and reluctance to participate in math activities is more prevalent in middle school, providing a challenge to teachers (Calder & Campbell, 2015;Hilmi & Hamzah, 2016;Willacy & Calder, 2017). In fact, in 2012, Yahya and Fasasi claimed that fear in mathematics is an academic infection and the faces of the students in the classes show the signs of this anxiety.…”