Home PublicationsJRTEPast IssuesVolume 39 Number 2: Winter 2006

	Edited by Dr. Lynne Schrum, George Mason University
formerly Journal of Research on Computing in Education

Volume 39 Number 2 Winter 2006

Teachers' Beliefs and Practices in Technology-based Classrooms: A Developmental View

Tamar Levin
Tel Aviv University
Rivka Wadmany
Teachers’ College of Technology, Tel Aviv

Abstract

This paper reports on an exploratory, longitudinal study that analyzes and interprets the evolution of teachers’ beliefs regarding learning, teaching, and technology, and their instructional practices, in the context of integrating technology-based information-rich tasks in six 4th–6th grade classrooms. The study used multiple research tools, interviews, questionnaires and observations, focusing on both teachers’ beliefs and classroom practices. The findings reveal that following multi-year experiences in technology-based classrooms, teachers’ educational beliefs had changed quite substantively, demonstrating multiple views rather than pure beliefs. The study argues that teachers’ beliefs form a mosaic of complementary visions, even conflicting ones. It also shows that it is easier to change classroom practices than educational beliefs.

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Contributors

Prof. Tamar Levin, School of Education, Tel Aviv University, Ramat Aviv, Tel Aviv 69978, Israel; tami1@post.tau.ac.il

Dr. Rivka Wadmany, Teachers’ College of Technology, 6 Antigonous St. Tel Aviv, Israel; wadmany@macam.ac.il

Copyright 2006, (International Society for Technology in Education). All rights reserved.