Science Student Teachers and Educational Technology: Experience, Intentions, and Value

The primary purpose of this study is to examine science student teachers' experience with educational technology, their intentions for their own use, their intentions for their students’ use, and their beliefs in the value of educational technology in science instruction. Four-hundred-forty-eight science student teachers of different disciplines and levels participated in the study. A questionnaire was used as the data collection instrument. The data were analysed using correlations (Pearson), t-tests, and one-way ANOVA. Findings revealed differences amongst science student teachers from different subjects. Correlations were also found amongst science student teachers based on their educational technology experience, their intention to use educational technology, their intention to have their students use educational technology, and their belief in the value of educational technology for learning science. Science student teachers who were more experienced with educational technology had greater intentions of using the technology, were more likely to have theirs students use it, and believed more in its value.