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ABRACADABRA in the hands of teachers: The effectiveness of a web-based literacy intervention in grade 1 language arts programs
ARTICLE

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Computers & Education Volume 55, Number 2, ISSN 0360-1315 Publisher: Elsevier Ltd

Abstract

This study explored how teacher variations in use of a web-technology of known effectiveness, affected growth in literacy. Teachers used ABRACADACABRA (ABRA) (http://grover.concordia.ca/abra/version1/abracadabra.html), in Grade 1 Language Arts classes. Children (N=60) across three classrooms were exposed to ABRA activities and a control class followed the regular provincial literacy program. Interventions were run by briefly-trained teachers for a total of 16h. Each teacher chose to use the program in qualitatively distinct ways that corresponded to the first three stages of Sandholtz, Ringstaff, and Dwyer’s (1997) technology integration model, namely: Entry, Adoption and Adaptation. Growth in literacy between pre- and post-test revealed significant differences associated with technology integration style across all measures of literacy and related language skills. The largest and most-widespread effects were evident for the Adaptation group that linked technology content to wider learning themes in the classroom. In terms of overall growth in standardised literacy scores across all six such measures used, Adaptation proved to be 60% more effective than Adoption. Results suggest that explorations of exactly how teachers use technology have important implications for practice as well as for the interpretation of field-based studies of the effectiveness of educational technology.

Citation

Savage, R.S., Erten, O., Abrami, P., Hipps, G., Comaskey, E. & van Lierop, D. (2010). ABRACADABRA in the hands of teachers: The effectiveness of a web-based literacy intervention in grade 1 language arts programs. Computers & Education, 55(2), 911-922. Elsevier Ltd. Retrieved March 3, 2021 from .

This record was imported from Computers & Education on January 31, 2019. Computers & Education is a publication of Elsevier.

Full text is availabe on Science Direct: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.compedu.2010.04.002

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