Effect of Socioeconomics on the Use of Technology in Secondary Mathematics Classrooms

Our study aims at determining whether there is a relationship between the socioeconomics of a school and the use of technology for instruction and learning in secondary mathematics courses. The research is a quantitative online survey, done with a small group of secondary mathematics teachers from different socioeconomics chosen from Connecticut school districts in New Haven County and Fairfield County. Our results show that despite having graphing calculators more readily available to all students, the high socioeconomic status group has the lowest average percentage of use, while the low socioeconomic status group has the highest percentage of use. Also, the results of our study show evidence that teacher professional development increases the amount of time students are active primary users of technology in the classroom. Lastly, the data shows that higher access to particular technology does not correlate with higher use in the mathematics classroom. Moreover, the gap between access and usage of technology is more perceptible within the high socioeconomic status schools.