Abstract:

This paper presents a descriptive study that was designed to obtain qualitative data on teacher insights of instructional changes in high school biology programs that integrate laptop computers. A purposeful sample was sought of ten Ontario teachers who were teaching biology in the final two years of high school and in laptop environments where teachers and students have access to personal laptops and the same software. The teachers considered the acquisition and use of teaching materials to be an important aspect of integrating laptop computers into instruction and identified ongoing challenges for accessing appropriate professional development, and for sharing professional knowledge, practical skills, and teaching materials. Conclusions of this study include: the integration of laptop computers was a positive experience for the teachers; the teachers received limited, if any, pedagogical assistance with the integration of laptop computers into their biology courses; and, the teachers would not choose to return to teaching without laptops.

Keywords:

Change, Implementation, Laptops, Qualitative, Descriptive, Biology.