5.2 DATA INTERPRETATION
5.2.2 Interpret and Construct
When learners interpret the new information use their past experiences to construct knowledge. The lack of past experiences from the educators in previously disadvantaged schools would make it quiet for them to form an understanding of computer technology.
The interpretation and construction sections were covered in the following questions in the data collection tool:
Interviews: Questions 10, 11 and 12 Questionnaire: Question 4 and 5
5.2.3 Resources
To construct knowledge one needs resources. The schools that were visited by the researcher were under resourced. If the schools do not have enough resources it is going to be difficult the educators will not be able to integrate compute technology into the curriculum. The schools are lagging behind in high technology. Collagham cited in Blackledge and Hunt (1989), stated that to construct knowledge one needs resources, such as libraries, television, computers, magazines, oral sources, written sources and others. Learners use these resources with the aid of the educator. Educators are encouraged to facilitate rather than control and dominate
The resources were coveredinthe data collection tools as follows:
Interviews: Question 1,2 and 4 Questionnaire: Question 2
5.2.4 Active Participation
The resources will help the learners to be actively involved in a lesson. When the researcher observed the lessons there was active participation among the learners. The learners still see the educator as the source of information. If there is no active participation learning will not be fun or interesting to the learners. If they are not interested they will not be able to form an understanding of what is being taught in class.
Apple cited in Blackledge and Hunt (1989), stated that in constructivism learners are not expected to absorb knowledge. They are given a chance to think creatively and be actively involved in classroom activities. Dewey quoted in Blackledge and Hunt (1989), stated that physical actions, hands on experience may be necessary for learning. People need to take part in activities which engage the mind as well as the hands.
In this case the duty of the educator is to facilitate the learning situation. In schools that were visited by the researcher, the educators were not facilitating the situation. Instead they were feeding the learners with the information. The learners were not given a chance to think creatively and construct their own understanding about what they were learning in class. Jacqueline and Martin Brooks (1993) stated that in the classroom, the constructivist educator sets up problems and monitors student exploration, guides the direction of the student's inquiry and promotes new patterns of thinking. The educator refers to raw data, primary source and interactive materials to provide experiences for their students rather than relying on another's set of data.
Questions on active participation were covered in the data collection tools as follows:
Interviews: Question 5, 6 and 7
Questionnaire: Question 1,8,9, 10 and 11
5.2.5Interviews
In four schools that were visited by the researcher only two of them teach computer technology. School one and two teach computer technology. School three and four do not teach computer technology. If school three and four do not teach computer technology it is clear that there are no chances that they will be able to integrate computer technology into the curriculum. Even the schools that teach computer literacy do not integrate computer technology into the curriculum. The educators are not trained to integrate computer technology into the curriculum. The number of computers per school does not allow the educators to use computer technology in their learning areas. The results of this study show that educators in previously disadvantaged schools do not integrate computer technology into the curriculum.
All eight educators who were interviewed do not use computer technology in their learning areas. Only three of them were computer literate. The other five educators were not computer literate. All twelve educators will not be able to integrate computer technology in their learning areas because they are not trained to integrate it into their learning areas. Five of them are not computer literate.
5.2.6Questionnaire
Out of twelve educators who completed the questionnaire, there was only one educator who used computer technology in the classroom. This educator has used computer technology in the classroom for about two to five years. This shows that there are so
that they do not integrate computer technology in their learning areas. All twelve educators said that they do not integrate computer technology in their learning areas. The problem they cited was that they have never done computer literacy and they have never trained to integrate computer technology in their learning areas.
There was only one educator who received formal training in computer technology. If there was only one educator out of twelve who received formal training, it shows there is still a lot of work that needs to be done in promoting the use of computer technology in previously disadvantaged schools. This will help the educators to be at the same level with ex-model c schools. The previously disadvantaged schools are legging behind in computer technology. The schools need computer laboratories and educators who are well trained to integrate computer technology into the curriculum.
Four out of twelve educators said that the use of computer technology in their schools was good; two educators said that it was fair and six said it was poor. This shows that the use of computer technology in previously disadvantaged schools was not up to standard.
This was the issue that needed to be addressed as soon as possible, to bridge the gap between ex-model c schools and previously disadvantaged schools. In this case learners do not get equal opportunities in schools. Learners are entitled to equal educational opportunities no matter where they come from. Only four educators out of twelve who said they were competent in the use of computer technology. Eight of them said that, they were not yet competent. They still needed training and motivation so that they will be confident in the use of computer technology.