Pre-service teachers’ approaches to designing technology-based activities in anchored instruction framework

Teachers’ beliefs and skills in, and attitudes towards technology are the factors shaping their technology use in education. However, teacher preparation programs don’t sufficiently support pre-service teachers in this regard. One way to improve their technology beliefs and skills in, and attitudes towards technology is to have them design theory-based technology learning environments. In this study, pre-service mathematics teachers designed anchored instruction-based mathematics learning environments and their approaches for the process were revealed. 52 pre-service teachers went through a 14-week learning period and then asked to build technology-based mathematics learning materials. Their materials were designed based on three design principles of anchored instruction. Upon the completion, projects applying all the necessary requirements in good, average, or poor level were selected with a purposive sampling method. The requirements were specified as workability, interactivity, narration, completeness and representing anchored instruction’s three design principles. The designers of these selected projects were interviewed with semi-structured interview questions. Results indicated that their design approaches are in line with anchored instruction theory’s suggested benefits. Their technology beliefs are positively affected and their judgments about technology-based instructional material design are supported by related literature in favor of students’ learning. Implications for teacher education programs are discussed.