CARIBBEAN STUDIES INTERNAL ASSESSMENT

Problem Statement: To what extent does modern technology

influence the educational achievement of Glenmuir High School six form

students?

NAME: ANISSA GEDDES

REGISTRATION NUMBER: 1000390818

TERRITORY: JAMAICA

YEAR: 2013

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

The researcher would like to take this opportunity to thank everyone who had lent their

assistance in order to make this research project a success. Firstly, the researcher must give

thanks to the almighty God for making this at all possible. A special thank you goes out to the

teacher, Mrs. Wolfe who has worked hard to make this project successful. Next this would not

have been possible without the cooperative assistance of the respondents to the questionnaires.

My heartfelt appreciation is sent to everyone who has worked to make this project a

realization.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

TITLES PAGES

Introduction and Purpose of Research

Definition of Terms

Literature Review

Data Collection Source

Presentation of Findings

Analysis of Findings

Discussion of Findings

Limitations

Recommendations

Appendices

INTRODUCTION

CHAPTER ONE

Problem Statement:

To what extent does modern technology influence the educational

achievement of Glenmuir High School six form students?

Sub-problems:

To discover the positive effects of the usage of modern technology on the students who

use it.

To find out the negative effects of using modern technology on the students exposed to

it over a period of time.

To investigate how the academic performance of the Glenmuir High students are

influenced by the technology they use.

BACKGROUND

This research is aimed at finding out how much the education of the six form students of

Glenmuir High school is influenced by the technology of the present society. There are two

hundred and thirty students who attend Glenmuir at the sixth form level. Many students if not

all students have daily access to technology such as computers, television, cell phones, radio,

etc. This has shown where the behavior of the students has become borderline obsessed with

these items. The students use these modern gadgets for the completion of assignments but they

use for social networking sites such as Facebook, twitter, etc. This has led to parents and

teachers complaining that while there are positive dimensions to technology, students’ behavior

have been affected negatively.

This topic of research was chosen because it would be beneficial for all students involved to

see an analysis of the dynamic that exist between student and the technological world. Perhaps

such a study could incite a need for a change in the negative abuse of the technological devices

students use. A new awareness could be brought forward in relation to this topic.

DELIMITATIONS

This research on the effect of technology on the education of Glenmuir sixth form students was executed on ten subjects (five boys and five girls) between the ages of seventeen and nineteenth on January 16, 2013.

DEFINITION OF KEY TERMS

Modern

Relating or belonging to the present period in history or of the latest, most advanced

kind or most advanced equipment and techniques available.

Technology

This is the study, the development and application of devices, machines and techniques

for manufacturing or productive processes.

Education

The imparting and acquiring of knowledge through teaching and learning, especially at

an institution or a school.

Technophile

A lover of new technology or computerization.

LITERATURE REVIEW

The relationship of students and their technological gadgets has been a hot topic for many

writers and child psychologists. One such writer/journalist of the New York Times, Matt

Richtel wrote about this in his article, “Technology changing how Students Learn, Teachers

Say.” The teachers complained that their students are distracted by technology and that they

have to work twice as hard to reach out to them in a fashion that is familiar to them and to keep

their attention. One teacher spoke of the ‘Wikipedia Syndrome’. This she explains is where

students have all the answers to their questions or assignments at the click of a mouse. This not

only gives rise to plagiarism but also serves an injustice to these students as they will not

remember the material. So then the assignment would have served no purpose the child’s

educational development.

In the book, “Young Children Continue to Reinvent Arithmetic – 2nd – Grade:

Implications of Piaget’s Theory” by Constance Kamii, Barbara Means and Leslie Joseph, the

authors praise these ingenious young minds for their use of technology to propel their

education. This book encourages the teachers to also use technology in the classrooms. Another

book that mirrors these ideas was “Teenagers and Technology” by Chris Davies, Rebecca

Eynon. This book covers the positives of the relationship of teens to technology especially the

Internet.

There are persons against the idea of students being so wrapped up in technology and

people who strongly believe that it is mostly beneficial to their lifestyles. The ultimate question

however is should students be locked off of technology, limited usage of it or should they be

allowed free range? While their students who flourish in the technological world, there still

remain the danger it poses for example the internet.

DATA COLLECTION SOURCE

In order to complete this research project the question “To what extent does modern

technology influence the educational achievement of Glenmuir High School six form students?”

will have to be thoroughly explored through the use of an applied research. This is the research

design used to test one’s hypothesis in real life actual situations. As such the opinions of actual

students will be used to arrive at a conclusion. This research will be descriptive in nature

meaning all the elements that will be discovered will be used to show connections between the

existing variables.

The sampling method that will be utilized by the researcher is known as stratified random

sampling where the target population of the Glenmuir High school was then broken down into

the subset of six form students and the ten actual targets were randomly selected from that. This

survey will stand to help the researcher make the eventual conclusions of this research.

The instrument of research that will be utilized is the questionnaire. This instrument will be

used as it provides a quick and efficient method of data collection. Also it allows numerical

information to be collected that can be easily sorted, summarized and analyzed. The ten

questionnaires will be issued on January 16, 2013.

The secondary sources where used by the researcher to gather information related to the

research, to gain a better understanding of the problem that is being investigated. The internet

and books will also be used in this research process. The sources contributed to the researcher

understanding of the problem in that they cite examples and gives enormous amount of details

to comprehend.

PRESENTATION OF FINDINGS

Technology students have access to

InternetComputerTelevisionCellphoneMP3

Figure 1.

70%

20%

10%

Students' Assess to the InternetHome School Library Internet Café Public Library

Figure 2.

Since recently

In the past year

A long time

0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7

Time Span of Internet Access

Time Span of Internet Access

Figure 3.

Everyday Once a week Once a month0123456789

Frequency of the students' internet usage

Frequency of the students' internet usage

Figure 4.

Students who sped time at the li-brary reading books for assignment

YesNo

Figure 5.

Facebook Twitter Tagged None0

0.5

1

1.5

2

2.5

3

3.5

4

4.5

5

FemalesMales

A. Females and males who participates in social networking

Figure 6.

40%

20%

40%

Grades of StudentsA Students B Students C Students Failing Student

Figure 7.

ANALYSIS OF FINDINGS

DISCUSSION OF FINDINGS

There are two sides to this debate on teenagers and their ability to balance their use of their

technological devices. Some like Chris Davies and Rebecca Eynon writers of the book,

“Teenagers and Technology” supports this. While others are against this for example Matt

Richtel and his article, “Technology changing how Students Learn, Teachers Say.” Parents and

child psychologists are still battling to find a plausible conclusion.

The book “Teenagers and Technology” is a proclamation stating that teens and their

technology have a singularly exceptional relationship. They have stated that the general public

only focuses on the negatives of this relationship such as excessive gaming and social

networking. Chris Davies and Rebecca Eynon have brought forward that these devices give

teenagers a special connection with the world; it spawns greater intelligence and makes for a

more advance future generation.

LIMITATIONS

The researcher found it difficult to avoid certain problems in this research process. Some of

these are:

The receiving of the questionnaires on time.

The analysis of the sat times vague answers on the questionnaire.

The loss of not returned questionnaires.

RECOMMENTATIONS

As a result of this project the researcher would like to recommend possible solutions to the

problems presented. They are:

Parents should make use of parental blocks; this will limit which websites minors

visit.

Allotted time should be given to students for study or assignments on their

technological gadgets.

Devices that are not needed should not be given to children hence they will not

have unnecessary distractions.

APPENDIX

QUESTIONAIRE

Hello, my name is Anissa Geddes. I am a 6B student who does the subject Caribbean

Studies. I am asking for but a few minutes to fill out this simple questionnaire for my Internal

Assessment (IA). Be aware this is completely confidential. Please fill out this questionnaire as

truthfully as possible. Thank You!

Gender: ( ) Female ( ) Male

1. Which of these technologies do you have available to you?

( ) Television ( ) Computer ( ) MP3 Player ( ) Internet ( ) Cell phone

2. Do you have ready access to the Internet at:

( ) Home ( ) School Library ( ) Public Library ( ) Internet CAFE

3. How long have you had Internet access?

( ) Since recently ( ) In the past year ( ) A long time

4. How often do you use the Internet?

( ) Once a day ( ) Once a week ( ) Once a month

5. Do you spend any time at the library reading books to complete assignments?

( ) Yes ( ) No

6. Are you apart of any of these social networking sites, if so tick:

( ) Facebook ( ) Twitter ( ) Tagged ( ) none

7. How long have you been social networking?

_____________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________

8. How long do you spend on your favourite social networking website when you visit?

____________________________________________________________

____________________________________________________________

9. How well do you perform academically in school; are you a:

( ) A Student ( ) B Student ( ) C Student ( ) Failing Student

10. Do you believe your technological devices influence your academic performance?

______________________________________________________________

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