Perceptions of fourth grade public school teachers on calculators and long division

The purpose of the study was to assess fourth grade teachers' perceptions of the use of calculators in teaching long division. In this study a questionnaire was used to survey teachers from randomly selected elementary schools in the Richmond County School District, located in Georgia. The data from the survey were analyzed to determine if there was a statistical significant association between different variables and teachers' perceptions on initially teaching long division with the aid of calculators and re-teaching long division without the aid of calculators or teaching long division without the aid of calculators based on the same variables. The variables tested were socioeconomic status of schools, age ranges, years of teaching experience ranges, teachers' preferences (first choice) of subjects taught, and prerequisite skills needed for successfully performing the long division algorithm. The researcher hypothesized that there would be no significant association in the perceptions of fourth grade teachers on teaching long division with and without the aid of calculators. Descriptive quantitative research methodology was used to investigate the study. The data were analyzed using the Pearson's Chi Square Test to determine the association between the given variables and fourth grade teachers' perceptions of teaching long division with calculators and teaching long division without the aid of calculators. In all cases, there were no significant associations.