Title: Instructional Technology and Academic Performance of Grade 10 Students

in Mathematics
Academic Performance

Academic performance or “academic achievement” is the extent to which

a student, teacher or institution has attained their or long-term educational goals.

Improvement of students’ academic performance is also among the basic goals

of educational planning. And it’s through academic performance that students

can fully actualize their talents and capabilities in line with educational goals.

Notably, academic performance is considered as one important criteria of

educational quality. Therefore, without doubt academic performance presently is

a major issue among students, teachers, parents, school administrators, and the

community at large. Moreover, researchers have made several attempts to

unravel the complexities surrounding academic performance (Ikpi, Enya &

Johnny, 2014). As noted by these researchers, a lot of attention had been paid to

external factors such as type of school, teaching methods, school location,

instructional materials, quality of lecturers and their experience.

Furthermore, there are inconclusive results over which individual factors

successfully predict academic performance, elements such as test anxiety,

environment, motivation, and emotions require consideration when developing

models of school achievement. But individual differences in academic

performance have been linked to differences in intelligence and personality

(Sophie, Benedikt, & Tomas 2011). Students with higher mental ability as

demonstrated by IQ tests and those who are higher in conscientiousness (linked

to effort and achievement motivation) tend to achieve highly in academic

Title: Instructional Technology and Academic Performance of Grade 10 Students
in Mathematics
settings. Research has also found that students with higher academic

performance, motivation and persistence use intrinsic goals rather than extrinsic

ones (Leslie & Ingrid 2013). In other words, students with higher need for

achievement have greater academic performance.

Knowledge and Comprehension Level. Knowledge is defined as the

remembering of previously learned material. This may involve the recall of a wide

range of material, from specific facts to complete theories, but all that is required

is the bringing to mind of the appropriate information. Moreover, being able to

acquire new knowledge is essential to productive daily living, including

accomplishing academic and career goals (Mancuso, et al. 2019). Knowledge

acquisition refers to process of development of an individual's searching for,

categorizing, selecting, collecting, storing, and distributing information/knowledge

into specialized knowledge (Obeidat, Al-Suradi, Masa’deh, & Tarhini, 2016).

Furthermore, according to Richard Feynman as cited by Wallner (2016),

one of the most effective approaches to acquiring knowledge is teaching. To

learn, students must transfer information from working memory (where it is

consciously processed) to long-term memory (where it can be stored and later

retrieved). Also, an effective creative process will be enhanced when educators

create a useful design to scaffold learning performance that inspires students to

acquire and exchange knowledge through cooperative culture in the classroom

(Kangas, 2010). Thus, the development of innovative learning environment

mechanisms is particularly important and provides more meaningful education

system planning, as those mechanisms are dependent upon students creatively

Title: Instructional Technology and Academic Performance of Grade 10 Students
in Mathematics
combining their own specific knowledge with that of other classmates, because

students are the information and knowledge receivers (Liu, 2017), and because

students depend on the transformation of new knowledge into the generation of

new and creative ideas (Kangas, 2010).

On the other hand, comprehension is the understanding and interpretation

of what is read. There are three levels of comprehension; the first one is literal,

second is interpretive and the third one is applied. Comprehension is difficult, at

times, and it is impossible, if you lack essential information that the writer

assumes you have (McWhorten, n.d). To be able to accurately understand

written material, children need to be able to decode what they read; make

connections between what they read and what they already know; and think

deeply about what they have read. One big part of comprehension is having a

sufficient vocabulary or knowing the meanings of enough words. Readers who

have strong comprehension can draw conclusions about what they read – what

is important, what is a fact, what caused an event to happen, which characters

are funny. Thus, comprehension involves combining reading with thinking and

reasoning (Reading Rockets, 2020).

In addition, students need reading comprehension skills to be successful

in both academic and personal life. In students’ academic lives, reading

comprehension is the basis for understanding all the academic content.

individuals need reading comprehension skills in order to be able to have and

maintain a job and successfully engage in different daily activities (Hoeh, 2015;

Mahdavi, & Tensfeldt, 2013). The need for reading comprehension significantly
Title: Instructional Technology and Academic Performance of Grade 10 Students
in Mathematics
increases when thinking about the negative consequences of not being able to

read in critical situations. For instance, not being able to read and comprehend

dosage directions on a bottle of medicine or caution on a container of dangerous

chemicals can put individuals in a very dangerous situation that threatens their

safety and lives (Marshall, n.d.). If not being able to successfully read prevents

students from graduating from school, they cannot easily find a job and live

independently (Hoeh, 2015). Therefore, the importance of comprehension is

what makes us advocates for ourselves and our families. Being able to read and

understand through communication empowers us to make decisions in our lives.

Valuing. According to Deborah Anne (2014), the value of education is

directly related to one’s efforts in studying. The higher one’s perceived value is of

education, the higher one puts effort in studying. Thus, one of the continuing

challenges teachers face is engaging of students in meaningful learning

experiences. One way to have students make the connection between content

and find value in learning is to give them ownership of the process through

Project Based Learning (PBL). When students are allowed to make decisions on

what they are learning and how they are learning it, they become invested in the

outcome more and actively engaged in the learning. This enables them to not

only determine the outcome but to see how the content relates to the world in

which they live, as well as giving them control of the learning process.

Another way to help students learn to value learning is to incorporate

technology into their learning. WebQuests are predesigned Internet scavenger

hunts that allow students to choose from pre- selected websites to read and learn
Title: Instructional Technology and Academic Performance of Grade 10 Students
in Mathematics
to complete academic tasks. This could include use of graphic organizers or

other structured student-centered learning activities that help students learn

content and find relevance through the use of technology (Teach Middle East,

2016). Hence, allowing students to see how the content they are learning

transfers into future careers through guest speakers can facilitate interest and

engagement from students.

Learning Adaptation. Adaptation referring to the ability to adjust to new

information and experiences. Learning is essentially adapting to our constantly

changing environment. Through adaptation, we are able to adopt new behaviors

that allow us to cope with change (Cherry, 2020). With this, adapting to a new

learning stage could be conceptualized as a multifaceted task, which might put

considerable pressure on students. Moreover, recent work has proposed

adaptability as a means of understanding young people’s capacity to deal with

new, changing, and/or uncertain situations (Martin 2010) adaptability seeks to

articulate concepts that reflect young people’s adaptive regulation in the face of

uncertainty, change, or novelty. In the academic domain, adaptability (“academic

adaptability”) reflects regulatory responses to academic novelty, change, and

uncertainty that lead to enhanced learning outcomes.

In addition, according to Jean Piaget's theory, adaptation was one of the

important processes guiding cognitive development. The adaptation process

itself can occur in two ways: through assimilation and accommodation (McLeod,

n.d). Nonetheless, the learning adaptation process is a critical part of cognitive

development. Through the adaptive processes of assimilation and

Title: Instructional Technology and Academic Performance of Grade 10 Students
in Mathematics
accommodation, people are able to take in new information, form new ideas or

change existing ones, and adopt new behaviors that make them better prepared

to deal with the world around them (Cherry, 2020).

Synthesis

Instructional technology has a conclusive evidence that digital technology

like the interactive whiteboards, websites and blogs, projectors and other digital

equipment resources can, where effectively used, raise the speed and depth of

learning. However, the extent of the effect may be dampened by the level of

capability of teachers to use digital learning tools and resources effectively to

achieve learning outcomes. More effective use of digital teaching to raise

attainment includes the ability of teachers to identify how digital tools and

resources can be used to achieve learning outcomes and adapting their

approach, as well as having knowledge and understanding of the technology. On

the other hand, there are many students are relying on technology for their

academic needs. Students, especially those with few advantages in life, learn

basic skills—reading, writing, and arithmetic—better and faster if they have a

chance to practice those skills using technology. Technology may contribute to

the long-term retention of knowledge and acquisition of skills such as

interpersonal communication, psychomotor, and cognitive skills within different

courses. Students who regularly use technology take more pride in their work,

have greater confidence in their abilities, and develop higher levels of self-

esteem.
Title: Instructional Technology and Academic Performance of Grade 10 Students
in Mathematics
References

Kanyinulia, U. (2019). Motivational systems theory and academic performance.

Retrieved on September 18, 2020 from
http://eprints.gouni.edu.ng/925/1/UKPAKA%2C%20SOCHIMA%20KANYI
NULIA.docx

Bell, M. (2017). Classroom. Retrieved on September 18, 2020 from

https://classroom.synonym.com/define-academic-performance-
4740750.html

Herr, N. (2007). Bloom's taxonomy. Retrieved on September 18, 2020 from

http://www.csun.edu/science/ref/reasoning/questions_blooms/blooms.html

Wallner, H. (2016). How to acquire knowledge. Retrieved on September 18,

2020 from https://medium.com/@emilwallner/how-to-acquire-
knowledge- 6b00bcdb6179

Deans for Impact, (2015). The Science for learning. Retrieved on September 18,
2020 from https://deansforimpact.org/wp-
content/uploads/2016/12/The_Science_of_Learning.pdf

Zheng, (2017). A literature review on knowledge sharing. Retrieved on

September 18, 2020 from https://m.scirp.org/papers/74740#return8

Huang, (2020). Discovering the creative processes of students: Multi-way

interactions among knowledge acquisition, sharing and learning
environment. Retrieved on September 18, 2020 from
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jhlste.2019.100237

Reading Rockets, (2020). Comprehension. Retrieved on September 18, 2020

from https://www.readingrockets.org/helping/target/comprehension

Almutairi, (2018). Effective reading strategies for increasing the reading

comprehension level of third-grade students with learning disabilities.
Retrieved on September 18, 2020 from
https://scholarworks.wmich.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=4212&context
Title: Instructional Technology and Academic Performance of Grade 10 Students
in Mathematics
=dissertations

Anne, D. (2014). Valuing education. Retrieved on September 18, 2020 from

https://thoughtsfromastarfish.wordpress.com/2014/04/07/valuing-
education/

Teach Middle East, (2016). Help students to value learning. Retrieved on

September 19, 2020 from https://teachmiddleeastmag.com/help-students-
value-learning/

Cherry, K. (2020). Adaptation for coping with change. Retrieved on September

19, 2020 from https://www.verywellmind.com/what-is-adaptation-
2794815#:~:text=Adaptation%20is%20a%20term%20referring,us%20to%
20cope%20with%20change.

Martin, A.J. (2012.) Adaptability and learning. Retrieved on September 19, 2020
from https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4419-1428-6_267

Cuesta College, (2020). Strengthening your reading comprehension. Retrieved

on September 19, 2020 from
https://www.cuesta.edu/student/resources/ssc/study_guides/reading_com
p/303_read_strengthen.html