From challenging assumptions to measuring effect: Researching the Nokia Mobile Mathematics Service in South Africa
This paper reports on the analysis of the voluntary uptake and use of the Nokia Mobile Mathematics service by 3,957 Grade 10 learners. It measures the effect of the service on the school Mathematics attainment of 1,950 of these learners over one academic year. The study reveals that 21% of Grade 10...
| Main Authors: | , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Education Association of South Africa
2015-05-01
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| Series: | South African Journal of Education |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://www.scielo.org.za/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S0256-01002015000200009&lng=en&tlng=en |
| _version_ | 1818476982441082880 |
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| author | Nicky Roberts Garth Spencer-Smith Riitta Vänskä Sanna Eskelinen |
| author_facet | Nicky Roberts Garth Spencer-Smith Riitta Vänskä Sanna Eskelinen |
| author_sort | Nicky Roberts |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | This paper reports on the analysis of the voluntary uptake and use of the Nokia Mobile Mathematics service by 3,957 Grade 10 learners. It measures the effect of the service on the school Mathematics attainment of 1,950 of these learners over one academic year. The study reveals that 21% of Grade 10 Mathematics learners voluntarily and regularly made use of this mobile learning resource outside of school time, with little involvement from their teachers. We found that across the group of 1,950 learners, there was an average decline in Mathematics attainment from Grade 9 to Grade 10 of 15 percentage points. We further found that there was a significant difference in the percentage point shifts of the group of non-users (zero questions), where there was a mean decline of 19 percentage points compared to the group of regular/extensive users (151+ questions), where the mean decline was 11.5 percentage points. This difference in means was significant (t (1344) = 8.0, p = 2.2 x 10-15), with a small to medium effect size (d = 0.45). Research limitations and directions for future research are discussed in light of these findings. |
| first_indexed | 2024-12-10T09:32:15Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-98b6976620a94a4ea1cd386c974b57db |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2076-3433 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-12-10T09:32:15Z |
| publishDate | 2015-05-01 |
| publisher | Education Association of South Africa |
| record_format | Article |
| series | South African Journal of Education |
| spelling | doaj.art-98b6976620a94a4ea1cd386c974b57db2022-12-22T01:54:19ZengEducation Association of South AfricaSouth African Journal of Education2076-34332015-05-01352011310.15700/saje.v35n2a1045S0256-01002015000200009From challenging assumptions to measuring effect: Researching the Nokia Mobile Mathematics Service in South AfricaNicky Roberts0Garth Spencer-Smith1Riitta Vänskä2Sanna Eskelinen3University of the WitwatersrandKelello Consulting associateMicrosoft OyMicrosoft OyThis paper reports on the analysis of the voluntary uptake and use of the Nokia Mobile Mathematics service by 3,957 Grade 10 learners. It measures the effect of the service on the school Mathematics attainment of 1,950 of these learners over one academic year. The study reveals that 21% of Grade 10 Mathematics learners voluntarily and regularly made use of this mobile learning resource outside of school time, with little involvement from their teachers. We found that across the group of 1,950 learners, there was an average decline in Mathematics attainment from Grade 9 to Grade 10 of 15 percentage points. We further found that there was a significant difference in the percentage point shifts of the group of non-users (zero questions), where there was a mean decline of 19 percentage points compared to the group of regular/extensive users (151+ questions), where the mean decline was 11.5 percentage points. This difference in means was significant (t (1344) = 8.0, p = 2.2 x 10-15), with a small to medium effect size (d = 0.45). Research limitations and directions for future research are discussed in light of these findings.http://www.scielo.org.za/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S0256-01002015000200009&lng=en&tlng=enmathematics educationmeasuring effortmeasuring impactmobile learning (m-learning)secondary schoolSouth Africatechnology-enhanced learning |
| spellingShingle | Nicky Roberts Garth Spencer-Smith Riitta Vänskä Sanna Eskelinen From challenging assumptions to measuring effect: Researching the Nokia Mobile Mathematics Service in South Africa South African Journal of Education mathematics education measuring effort measuring impact mobile learning (m-learning) secondary school South Africa technology-enhanced learning |
| title | From challenging assumptions to measuring effect: Researching the Nokia Mobile Mathematics Service in South Africa |
| title_full | From challenging assumptions to measuring effect: Researching the Nokia Mobile Mathematics Service in South Africa |
| title_fullStr | From challenging assumptions to measuring effect: Researching the Nokia Mobile Mathematics Service in South Africa |
| title_full_unstemmed | From challenging assumptions to measuring effect: Researching the Nokia Mobile Mathematics Service in South Africa |
| title_short | From challenging assumptions to measuring effect: Researching the Nokia Mobile Mathematics Service in South Africa |
| title_sort | from challenging assumptions to measuring effect researching the nokia mobile mathematics service in south africa |
| topic | mathematics education measuring effort measuring impact mobile learning (m-learning) secondary school South Africa technology-enhanced learning |
| url | http://www.scielo.org.za/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S0256-01002015000200009&lng=en&tlng=en |
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