Does using the interactive whiteboard assist social studies teachers in increasing the comprehension of students and increase classroom participation of middle school students in Saudi Arabia?

Abstract

In recent years, there has been increasing interest in integrating the latest technology tools into educational field with a view to improving teaching methods as well as activating the role of students as participants in the educational process in order to develop their intellectual, social and academic skills. Interactive Whiteboard is one of these latest educational tools. After reviewing the literature, the researcher found that there are few studies on this topic in the Saudi context. The purpose of this study was to determine the effectiveness of using the IWB to assist social studies teachers in Saudi Arabia to increase the comprehension of students to the curriculum and increase classroom participation in middle schools in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. This study was conducted in an urban middle school in Western Saudi Arabia during the spring semester of 2018. The participants in this study were 8th grade students from the 33-middle school in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. This study's sample consisted of 30 female students all the aged of 14. The students were assigned at random with n=15 students in the experimental group in order to study the material by using interactive whiteboard technology and n=15 students in the control group in order to study the material in the traditional way. Also, the researcher designed a Likert-style survey to investigate students' opinions and attitudes towards of the using the IWB in the classroom. The researcher analyzed the results of her research question using direct observation and surveys. A comparison was made between the data of the two groups using statistical analysis. The mean and standard deviation were determined via the use of the SPSS program. The results from this study indicated that IWB technology has successfully contributed to increasing students' comprehension and to increasing classroom participation. In addition, the results indicated that there were positive attitudes towards the use of IWB in the classroom. The results also indicated the ability of IWB technology to raise the academic performance of students and to give students the opportunity to participate in the educational process through the presentation of activities, educational lessons, as well as to use some advantages of IWB such as writing on the board in order to increase students' motivation to learn and to encourage to acquire skills. [from abstract]