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Mathematics Apps—Stormy with the Weather Clearing: Using Cluster Analysis to Enhance App Use in Mathematics Classrooms

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Using Mobile Technologies in the Teaching and Learning of Mathematics

Part of the book series: Mathematics Education in the Digital Era ((MEDE,volume 12))

Abstract

Mathematical apps are now used in many school settings. To support teachers in making appropriate pedagogical decisions regarding their increased use, empirical, quantitative analyses of apps are required. This chapter initially explores how cluster analysis can be used to identify elements within individual apps so that similar apps may be grouped together. This will assist teachers to make decisions regarding which apps might be most appropriate, either singularly or in groups, for various elements of their practice. Based upon selection criteria and ranking via four criterion-based scales, the cluster structure of 57 apps, primarily supporting number and algebraic thinking in elementary mathematics classrooms, is reported. The chapter then explores the homogeneity and heterogeneity of these clusters of apps and indicates when and how these apps may be used to enhance student mathematical learning. The chapter therefore makes both methodological and pedagogical contributions to the broader discussion of the use of apps in primary mathematics classrooms.

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Acknowledgements

This project was initially funded through a Griffith University, School of Education and Professional Studies, research grant. Aspects of this book chapter were presented at an earlier MERGA conference. The data set for the analysis is a component of the larger dataset used in (Larkin, 2015). However, this chapter is a substantive development of the earlier work. We gratefully acknowledge the contribution of Professor Nathalie Sinclair (Simon Fraser University, Canada) and Associate Professor Nigel Calder (Waikato University, New Zealand) for their insights regarding the clustering of the apps. We also acknowledge the contribution of postgraduate students from the University of Victoria, Canada—Aishah Bakhtiar (Ph.D. Candidate), Sarah Davis (Ph.D. Candidate) and Rebecca Edwards (MA Candidate) who evaluated a random sample of the 57 apps to provide inter-rater reliability on the initial scoring of the apps.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Griffith University, Gold Coast, Australia

    Kevin Larkin

  2. University of Victoria, Victoria, Canada

    Todd Milford

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  1. Kevin Larkin
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Correspondence to Kevin Larkin .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. MSTE, University of Waikato, Tauranga, Bay of Plenty, New Zealand

    Nigel Calder

  2. School of Education and Professional Studies, Griffith University, Gold Coast, Queensland, Australia

    Kevin Larkin

  3. Faculty of Education, Simon Fraser University, Burnaby, British Columbia, Canada

    Nathalie Sinclair

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Larkin, K., Milford, T. (2018). Mathematics Apps—Stormy with the Weather Clearing: Using Cluster Analysis to Enhance App Use in Mathematics Classrooms. In: Calder, N., Larkin, K., Sinclair, N. (eds) Using Mobile Technologies in the Teaching and Learning of Mathematics. Mathematics Education in the Digital Era, vol 12. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-90179-4_2

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-90179-4_2

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-319-90178-7

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-319-90179-4

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