A concept development study towards mathematics teachers' technology integration cases into their teaching process

It is generally accepted that there is no single way of teaching and learning mathematics with technology. Although technology integration in mathematics education is a field that has been studied for many years, there are many technological tools used in mathematics education in the literature, and new ones are being introduced. The main problem is how a mathematics teacher will use or integrate technological tools. For this reason, the doctoral dissertation aims to develop a model that will allow mathematics teachers to integrate technology into their teaching processes. Following the aim, the factors affecting the integration of technology into the teaching processes of mathematics teachers and their situations of integrating technology were investigated. Since it aims to develop a model that will allow mathematics teachers to integrate technology into their teaching processes and an attempt is made to obtain a model from the data, the research method is Grounded Theory. The research started with the identification of four secondary school mathematics teachers working in different types of schools that have technological infrastructure in their schools and use technology in their teaching processes. Since it is planned to create a model for teachers to integrate technology, the teacher selection criterion has gained importance. Two students and an administrator of each teacher were also included in the research to determine how they perceive the technology integration process and how this situation will affect the process. In the research, lesson plans were used, together with observations and interviews, which the grounded theory method frequently applied. Teachers' twenty-hour lesson observations were made with a semi-structured observation form; teachers' interviews were also carried out with interview forms. Teacher interviews took place twice, at the beginning and the end of the observations. The interviews, which were held once with the students and the administrators, were carried out with the interview forms prepared separately for the two groups. A sample lesson plan was also requested from teachers to integrate technology into their teaching processes. In addition, the field observation notes prepared by the researcher during and after the observation process and the field interview notes prepared by the researcher after the interviews were used. During the data collection process, both data were collected and analyzed were made due to the constant comparative data analysis of the embedded theory. The coding process has consisted of two stages: Initial coding and Theoretical coding. Freewriting was done throughout the whole process. In line with the analyzes made, 215 sub-codes for the factors affecting technology integration in mathematics education and 32 codes were obtained as a result of theoretical coding. When the codes were examined, the factors affecting technology integration in mathematics education have been obtained as teacher-related factors and non-teacher factors. Teacher-based factors have been obtained as personal factors (factors affecting technology use) and professional factors (factors affecting technology integration). Personal factors are voluntariness, self-confidence, interest in technology, curiosity, language factor, familiarity, self-consciousness, openness to innovation, technological aptitude, perception of technology use and knowledge of technology. Professional factors are education received, technology awareness, student activity, choice of technology, the purpose of technology, technological material, perspective on learning, content-specific technology knowledge, classroom management, planning, perspective on mathematics education, knowledge of mathematics curriculum and social interaction. As non-teaching factors; physical conditions, manager expectation, manager support, economic situation, being technologically responsible, student expectation, student equipment and mathematics curriculum. In line with the findings, the Framework for the Factors Affecting Technology Integration in Mathematics Education (METEEF) framework was obtained. Based on the findings of the mathematics teachers' technology integration situation, 124 sub-codes and 17 codes were obtained as a result of theoretical coding. When the codes are examined, it is seen that rule application study, concept teaching study, strategy and reasoning study, doing math, teacher's material preferences, ready-made/original material, interactive material, material suitable for the student and material related to the curriculum, teacher role, student role, student-teacher interaction, student-student interaction, teacher-teacher interaction, unplanned use of technology and being purposeful and planned were obtained. Considering the codes, it is seen that the participating teachers of the research could not realize technology integration throughout the entire teaching process (for example, unplanned use of technology). By gathering the codes in 4 main groups, a technology integration model (MTEP) in mathematics education, consisting of mathematical density, technological activity, social roles and interaction and planning components, was obtained. In the continuation of the research, a technology integration rubric was proposed for mathematics education, which consists of model components, to increase the usefulness and functionality of the model. The fact that mathematics teachers know the factors affecting technology integration and consider them while designing teaching processes will be effective in terms of realizing the integration. It is recommended that mathematics teachers and mathematics educators who want to realize technology integration in mathematics education should design and implement teaching processes and activities following the model obtained in this research and try the rubric obtained. Keywords: Mathematics Education, technology integration, grounded Theory.