 Proceedings of Engineering and Technology Innovation , vol. 4, 2016, pp. 46 - 48 46 Elementary School Teachers’ Conceptions of Teaching Mathematics with Digital Game-based Teaching Shih-Hsuan Wei * , Jinn-Min Yang Department of Mathematics Education, National Taichung University of Education, Taichung, Taiwan. Received 02 May 2016; received in revised form 20 May 2016; accept ed 03 June 2016 Abstract This study aimed to investigate the factors accounting for mathematics teaching self-efficacy and to exa mine the relationships among Taiwanese teachers’ mathematics teaching self-efficacy, teaching and learning conceptions, technolog i- cal-pedagogical content knowledge for the digital learning, and attitudes toward game based learning. A total of 195 math teachers from 23 ele mentary schools in Taiwan were invited to take part in the study. After ensuring the validity and reliability of each questionnaire, the results indicated that each measure had satisfactory validity and reliability. Furthermore, the results revealed that teaching and learning conceptions, technological pedagogical content knowledge for the digital learning, and attitudes toward game-based learning mediated the relationship between teaching and learning con- ceptions and mathematics teaching self-efficacy, suggesting that knowledge of and attitudes toward digital game-based learning mediated the positive relationship between constructivist conceptions of teaching and learning and outcome expectancy; however, it mediated the negative correlations between traditional conceptions of teaching and learning and teaching efficacy. Ke ywor ds : self-e fficacy, TPA CK, digita l ga me based learning 1. Introduction With the advance and innovation of techno l- ogy, Internet based instruction has gained in- creasing attention among science educators and researchers in the field of educational technology. The demand for education and learning has been transformed fro m the traditional classroom into digital media pluralis m teaching methods . Digital game-based learning has been received a growing attention. The majority of ele mentary schools in Taiwan in terms of teaching practice situation are still facing the non-self-discipline e xpertise. In such case, elementary teachers (especially non-mathematical or scientific expertise in those years) whether to hold enough teaching digital game-based teaching self-belief and even whether the impact on their quality of education that is well worth the researchers’ attention. Ad- ditionally, a strong sense of teaching efficacy could influence effective teaching and student achievement in the field of education [1]. How- ever, it is probably more difficult to prepare the mathematics course units for elementary school teachers because they are required to be respon- sible for teaching the majority of subjects, in- cluding both their majors and non -majors, thus leading to a lower sense of self-efficacy related to teaching mathematics [2-3]. Therefore, it is likely that a lower degree of self-efficacy may e xist when it comes to mathematics teaching in ele- mentary schools. In this regard, exploring the sources of mathematics teaching self-efficacy among elementary teachers demands immediate attention. Since [4] suggested that the ma jor factors in accounting for self-efficacy a re various kinds of personal e xperiences, teaching and learning conceptions, which are regarded as factors con- structed from previous experience, should be taken into account. Furthermore, Researchers have asserted that Internet- based instruction can meet learners’ needs for interactive and indi- vidualized lea rning [5-6]. Accordingly, Inter- net-based instruction is like ly to promote effec - tive teaching, which in turn contributes to teacher self-efficacy. Given this, the current study aimed to investigate factors in expla ining the sources of self-efficacy in teaching mathe- matics with digital game-based environment. * Corresponding aut hor. Email: scottiewei@mail.ntcu.edu.t w Proceedings of Engineering and Technology Innovation , vol. 4, 2016, pp. 46 - 48 47 2. Method 2.1. Participants A total of 195 mathe matics teachers (62.3% fe males) we re selected from 23 ele mentary schools in Taiwan. Of these teachers, 8.6% we re less than 30 years old, 38.3% were 31-40 years old, 45.8 we re 41-50 years old, 4.2% we re 51-60 years old, 1.3% we re more than 60 years old, and 1.8% did not report their age. Their teaching e xperience ranged fro m 1 to 38 years, with an average of approximate ly 17 years. A lso, 39.4% of the partic ipants had a Bachelor’s d egree, 58.2% had a Master’s degree, 1.5% had a Ph. D., and 0.9% did not report their degree. A lthough this sample could not be viewed as a national sample, the surveyed teachers came fro m a v a- riety of schools in Taiwan, across diffe rent de- mographic a reas and backgrounds, which may be said to be representative in Taiwan. In this research, a survey with several d i- mensions to investigate teachers ’ self-efficacy beliefs towa rd their mathe matica l teaching in terms of mathe matics teaching self-e fficacy, the traditional or constructivist conceptions of teaching and learning, and technology peda- gogical content knowledge towa rd ga mes was used. In which, The Mathe matics Teaching Self-Efficacy (MTSE) scale was revised and translated from the Sc ience Teaching Efficacy Be lie f Instrument (ST EBI) developed by [2]. The Teaching and Lea rning Conceptions (TLC) Questionnaire was main ly modeled and trans- lated fro m the scale developed by [7], inc luded two diffe rent conceptions of teaching/ learning: Traditional and Constructivist. Furthermore, to streamline and simp lify the models, the survey also integrating some ite ms fro m TPA CK-G questionnaire, wh ich was developed by [8], was proposed to explore teacher’ technology peda- gogical content knowledge toward games . 2.2. Data Analysis In order to determine the participant teachers, data analyzing with e xploratory factor analysis (EFA) was used to reduce the number of ite ms and to ensure the structures of each measure were e mp loyed to test the relationships among teaching and learning conceptions, mathemat ics teaching self-efficacy, and TPCK-G. 3. Results and Discussion Table 1 Descriptive statistics and correlations Descript ive st at ist ics Correlat ions Mean SD 1 2 3 4 5 6 T LC 1. Const ructivist 4.11 0.41 1.00 2. T radit ional MTSE 3.86 0.45 0.09 1.00 3. T eaching efficacy 4.23 0.38 0.28** -0.20** 1.00 4. Out come expectancy T P ACK-G 3.6 0.42 0.21** 0.15 0.33* 1.00 5. T P ACK-G 4.02 0.39 0.28** -0.25** 0.41** 0.31** 1.00 6. At t itudes 4.18 0.40 0.23** -0.21** 0.38** 0.22** 0.58** 1.00 Not e: T LC, t eaching and learning conceptions; MTSE; mathematics t eaching self-efficacy, T PACK-G, t ech- nology pedagogical content knowledge t oward game. ∗p < .05. ∗∗p < .01. Table 1 contains means, standard deviations and correlations for the major variables. As can been seen in Table 1, constructivist conceptions and the two constructs of mathematics teaching self-efficacy were positively correlated (r = .28, p < .01 for teaching efficacy; r = .21, p < .01 for outcome expectancy), indicating that teachers with higher agreement with constructivist teaching conceptions displayed stronger teaching efficacy beliefs and outcome expectancy in mathematics teaching. Also, traditional conceptions and teach- ing efficacy were negatively correlated (r = −.20 p < .01), indicating that teachers with more tradi- tional teaching conceptions displayed lower teaching efficacy beliefs in mathematics teaching. 4. Conclusions The educational and testing systems in Tai- wan may impede students’ creativity and intrinsic motivation to utilize deep approaches to learning mathematics , decreasing their self-efficacy for Proceedings of Engineering and Technology Innovation , vol. 4, 2016, pp. 46 - 48 48 Copyright © TAETI learning mathematics. According to the U. S. Department of Education, “Technology is now considered by most educators and parents to be an integral part of providing a high -quality educa- tion”. While the use of computer-based technol- ogies is becoming increasingly prevalent, stu- dents need to be prepared for the technolo- gy-driven workplace with practical skills that can be used in today’s innovative world . Teaching and learning are comple x ph e- nomena. Traditional teaching and learning mod- els which focus more on me morization and less on higher level thinking skills are now considered inadequate for the needs of the 21st century classroom. Successful mathematics teachers are acknowledged as being those who are equipp ed with adequate knowledge and who are capable of developing appropriate pedagogical strategies to accomplish teaching based on various levels of student prior knowledge. Constructivist learning is considered as a dominant paradigm in the fie ld of education. Given the importance of educational technology, many educators today find the constructivist approach in a technology-rich environment to be more feasible and effective [9-10]. Technology has become an important part of inquiry -based learning. Additionally, the tools of technology can contribute to learning environments in sup- port of inquiry-based learning whereby students develop their information-processing and analy- sis skills through their own learning experience. References [1] R. K. Henson, L. R. Kogan, and V. H. Tammi, “A reliability generalization study of the teacher efficacy scale and related in- struments ,” Educational and Psychological Measurement, vol. 61, no.3, pp. 404-420, 2001. [2] I. M. Riggs and L. G. Enochs, “Toward the development of an elementary teacher's sci- ence teaching efficacy belief instrument,” Science Education, vol. 74, no. 6, pp. 625-638, 1990. [3] L. Ra mey-Gassert, M. G. Shroyer, and J. R. Staver, “A qualitative study of factors in- fluencing science teaching self‐efficacy of ele mentary level teachers ,” Science Educa- tion, vol. 80, no. 3 pp. 283-315, 1996. [4] A. Bandura, “Self-efficacy: toward a uni- fying theory of behaviora l change,” Psy- chological Revie w, vol. 84, no. 2, pp. 191, 1977. [5] J. McCa rthy, J. McCa rthy, J. Light, and D. McNaughton, “The effects of internet-based instruction on the social proble m solving of young adults who use augmentative and alternative co mmunicat ion,” Augmentative and Alternative Commun ication, vol. 23, no. 2, pp. 100-112, 2007. [6] W. Nuffer and J. Duke, “A comparison of live classroom instruction and internet-based les- sons for a preparatory training course deliv- ered to 4th year pharmacy students ,” Journal of Science Education and Technology, vol. 22, no. 4, pp. 522-528, 2013. [7] K. W. Chan and R. G. Elliott, “Relat ional analysis of personal epistemo logy and conceptions about teaching and learn- ing,” Teaching and Teacher Education , vol. 20, no. 8, pp. 817-831, 2004. [8] C. Y. Hsu and C. S. Chai, “ Exp loring pre- school teachers’ technological pedagogical content knowledge with educational games ,” Workshop Proceedings of the 20th Inter-national Conference on Co mputers in Education, pp. 302-308, November, 2012. [9] S. Ka lyuga and J. Sweller, “ Rapid dynamic assessment of expertise to imp rove the ef- fic iency of adaptive e-lea rning,” Educa- tional Technology Research and Develo p- ment, vol. 53, no. 3, pp. 83-93, 2005. [10] M. L. Connell, “Technology in constru c- tivist mathe matics classrooms ,” Journal of Co mputers in Mathe matics and Science Teaching, vol. 17, no. 4, pp. 311-338, 1998.