The Advantages and Problematics of Using the Electronic Spreadsheet in Biology Teaching as Perceived by Actively Engaged Teachers

Amos Dreyfus, Benjamin Feinstein, and Janet Talmon
Journal of Educational Computing Research, Vol 19 No 1, 1998, p. 67-81

The main hypothesis of this study was that secondary school biology teachers who had persevered in the use of optional spreadsheet assisted activities were those who believed that 1) their rationale is sound; 2) the use of the spreadsheet does not impose any unnecessary extrinsic "cognitive load" on the students; 3) the administration of the school encourages the teachers to use of the spreadsheet; and 4) the administration expresses encouragement by providing some minimal conditions, some facilities which are essential to make the use of the spreadsheet efficient or possible at all. The picture of the persevering teachers which emerges from this study is somewhat different: they joined because of their personal interest, remained because of their individual perception of the contribution of the activities to their students, and persevered in spite of the perceived difficulties and of the lack of some facilities, without attributing their difficulties to the behavior of the administration.

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