Abstract:

Especially the demands on the subject-specific competencies of mathematics prospective teachers, which are distinctly different from other categories of teachers are an essential moment in the preparation of future primary school teachers. These demands arise from the multidisciplinary nature of their studies, based on a single teacher training system that teaches all subjects. In the context of the upcoming reform of curricular documents in the Czech Republic, there will also be greater demands on the development of digital literacy of pupils in mathematics, so teachers should be able to use appropriate digital technology in their teaching.

The paper focuses on convincing teachers of their own effectiveness of using digital technology in teaching mathematics as an effective didactic instrument. It is based on the principles of self-efficacy and specifically identifies which technologies students are ready to use in their future teaching.

The starting point was a research carried out in the academic year 2018/2019 among 74 primary school students at the Faculty of Education, Palacký University in Olomouc. The aim of the paper is to identify the digital technologies that students are ready to use in their future lessons of mathematics. A questionnaire of own design was used to obtain the research data, which consisted of a total of 18 items. The questionnaire was distributed to students electronically and 74 participating students formed a top sample of first-degree teacher students. The results of the open item 16, which aimed to fulfill the objective of the paper, were obtained by analyzing the text and evaluating the basic descriptive statistics.

The results show that students most often feel ready to use the interactive whiteboard, computer, and data projector. In other places, students mentioned presentations in MS PowerPoint, computer programs, tablets, and the Internet. Only a fraction of the students introduced non-standard digital technology such as bee-bot or ozobot. In summary, most students feel ready to use commonly available digital technology in a primary school in their future mathematics teaching. We understand this result as a basis for improving the quality of undergraduate training for future teachers.

Keywords:

Prospective teachers, digital literacy, digital technologies, mathematics, preparedness, teacher beliefs.