תפיסת התפקיד ואסטרטגיות הוראה של מורים המשלבים טכנולוגיות מתקדמות בשיעוריהם

The accelerated development of information and communications technologies has sparked far-reaching changes in society, in the economy, and recently even in politics, and have brought about the development of advanced technologies in education. That said, studies have shown that although many teachers are aware of the innovative potential of including advanced technologies in teaching, a considerable number of them include them in traditional lectures and exercises without altering the ways of teaching and learning significantly. The research presented in this article examined the practice of six science teachers who declared that they employed advanced technologies as teaching tools. The research explored their teaching strategies as well as their role perceptions. Based on interviews with the teachers, on observations performed in the classrooms, and on the research literature dealing with the topic, four leading teaching strategies emerged. These were ranked in ascending order (from a concrete level of thinking to an abstract level of thinking): illustration, problem solving, investigative learning, and reflective learning. In addition, four roles played by the teachers were identified: guiding a learning activity, motivating thinking processes, creating a partnership in learning, and displaying innovation in the application of teaching methods and advanced technologies. In the present study, a matrix was developed, describing a correlation between the teachers’ roles and the teaching strategies they employed; it was found to conform to the ACOT (Apple Classrooms of Tomorrow) model of integrating new technologies. By means of the matrix, teachers can identify their current stage of assimilation and understand their strong and weak points, thereby helping to promote teaching and learning via the constructivist approach.