four-teacher team, along with one math, one history, and one language arts teacher. We
instruct 130 students who make up the academic team (Team E). Although I teach five
science classes a day, I targeted my seventh period class for my research.
This class is made up of thirty-one average and above-average science students. I chose
this last class of the day for purely logistical reasons. With only one computer in my class-
room, I needed to borrow eleven computers daily from neighboring teachers. Seventh period
was the most agreeable period to the other teachers. An extra advantage of using the last
period of the day was that students could return the computers after the final dismissal bell
and not take valuable class time for this task.
My data was generated by comparing these students’ attitudes toward learning science
at the beginning of the school year, during my study, and at the conclusion of the study
period. The students’ attitudes and reactions were documented by the students themselves,
by their parents, and by my own observations. Collecting data from three sources allowed
for triangulation of the findings in this study. Data triangulation helped reduce the
likelihood of error in the findings when similar results are reported from two or more of the
sources. I surveyed all of the class members and their parents at the beginning and the end
of my study.
During the first six weeks of school, I reviewed the scientific method, the metric
system, scientific measurement, and laboratory safety. At this point multimedia technology
was not part of the curriculum. Some hands-on activities were used at this time. The
students worked both individually and in groups. To determine each student’s level of
enthusiasm for learning science, during this time I administered a survey which contained
the following questions: How do you like learning science? How have you liked learning
science so far this year? How enthusiastic are you about exploring science at home?
Students were asked to rate their answers to each question using a scale of 1 to 5. The scale
was represented by (1) a very unenthusiastic response, (2) an unenthusiastic response, (3)
indifference, (4) an enthusiastic response, and (5) a very enthusiastic response.
Additionally, I sent home parent surveys with each student in order to solicit and record
the parents’ opinions concerning their child’s enthusiasm for learning science. The survey
included two questions: How enthusiastic is your child about learning science? How
enthusiastically does your child do science activities at home? I used the same rating scale
for the parents that I used with the students.
At the beginning of the second six weeks I introduced a unit on oceanography.
Oceanography was used as the unit of study primarily because of the number of resource
materials available to the students through the media center. It was during this unit that I
began to integrate technology into my curriculum. As the unit was introduced I asked my
students to look through the oceanography chapters in their textbooks and make a prioritized
list of the eleven subtopics in physical and biological oceanography they would like to
study. Students were grouped according to their interest as much as possible and were
assigned to work in groups of two or three to develop a multimedia presentation that would
be used as an instructional tool for the other students.