Teaching and learning high-school mathematics via WhatsApp: teachers’ perspectives

We investigated teachers’ perspectives about what opportunities for learning and teaching could be created using WhatsApp as a social network to help students prepare for the final secondary-school Bagrut (matriculation) exam in mathematics. Launched by the Ministry of Education and the Center for Educational Technology three months before the Bagrut examination, the “WhatsApp Bagroup” project was initiated to serve as an additional environment for learning mathematics. The formation of these WhatsApp groups was meant to provide an online review project during which teachers integrated blended learning, and students presented problems with which they were having difficulties. During this initiative, we applied a quantitative and qualitative research model to analyze the teachers’ points of view about what learning and teaching opportunities were created. The study used a mixed method, sequential explanatory procedure to acquire a complete understanding of the factors that constitute teachers’ perceptions of learning and teaching via the Bagroup project. Quantitative and qualitative data were collected using three tools: a questionnaire with Likert-type statements and open questions, informal semi-structured interviews, and observations of four Bagroup study groups conducted during the three-month period. Factor analysis revealed three categories regarding the Bagroup environment: factors that contribute to learner’s emotional needs, factors that promote learning, and factors that inhibit learning. The findings may have implications for distance and remote learning and teaching opportunities.