The effect of first and second order barriers on the ideal and actual integration of computer technology into the high school science classroom

Science teachers' decisions to integrate computer technology into their classrooms was impacted by their pedagogical beliefs and their computer attitudes. First order barriers, ones extrinsic to the teacher, and second order barriers, ones grounded in the teachers' beliefs about teaching and learning, interfered with the implementation of computer technology. This study examined the beliefs of high school educators in a large, suburban school district in the Southeast. Teachers identified their actual levels of computer use in the current school year and what their ideal levels of use would have been if they were given unlimited resources of time, technical support, computer hardware, and software. The level of computer use was measured in the areas of administration, communication, Internet, instruction, and laboratory. Research questions examined in the study were: (1) What are the pedagogical beliefs and computer attitudes of high school science teachers in the district? (2) How do first and second order barriers affect the actual use of computers? (3) How do first and second order barriers affect the teachers' perspective of the ideal use of computers?;A significant interaction existed between computer use and the attitude of the science teachers toward computers, and the most notable interaction was between the teachers' computer attitudes and the use of the Internet. Teachers with constructivist beliefs were more likely to do Internet and use the computer in the laboratory. A significant difference existed between the actual use and the ideal use of computer technology in the areas of communication, Internet, instruction, and laboratory. A significant difference existed between male and female teachers in the amount of time computers were used in the laboratory, and years of teaching showed a significant interaction with constructivism and computer attitude. In their ideal visions, the science teachers expressed the greatest desire for growth in the areas of using computers for instruction and as a part of the laboratory.