Effectiveness of Digital Mathematics Instruction on Achievement and Attitudes of Primary School Girls

The fast growth of digital technologies in Indian classrooms has provided new opportunities to improve learning in primary mathematics, but there is little evidence at the classroom level with young girls in CBSE schools. There is a moderate to large positive effect of web-based mathematics teaching and other digital interventions on achievement at school levels, although most research is in high-income settings and mixed-gender samples. The article presents a model experimental study that tries to examine the effectiveness of a structured digital mathematics instruction as opposed to traditional instruction with 60 Grade 5 girls in a CBSE-affiliated school in Hooghly district, West Bengal. The experimental group was offered 8 weeks of the intervention consisting of the combination of smart-classroom materials, virtual manipulatives, and web-based practice aids in accordance with the CBSE mathematics curriculum, whereas the control group studied the same material by the use of chalk-and-talk strategies. This research design was based on a pre-test or pre-test-post-test control group design that used a researcher-created mathematics achievement test and a Likert-type attitude scale. Exemplary results, as per extant empirical data, would suggest that the experimental group (digital instruction) would be anticipated to demonstrate substantially more improvement in mathematics achievement and a more favourable disposition towards mathematics learning compared to the control group (traditional), with outcomes being notably greater in respect to word problems and geometry subjects in which visualisation media were highly engaged. These results are in line with the Indian policy agendas of integrating ICT and indicate that carefully designed digital interventions can be used to promote the foundational numeracy of primary school girl children in CBSE schools. The article ends with the implications for practice, policy and further research.