A Study of the Utilization and Selection of Instructional Media form Elementary Teachers in the Learning Area of Social Studies, Religion, and Culture

Abstract

The purposes of this research are to study the selection and utilization of instructional media for teachers in the Learning Area of Social Studies, Religion, and Culture, and to cluster the group of teachers in the utilization and the selection of instructional media. The participants in this study were 395 elementary teachers in Social Religion and Culture Studies Department in Thailand. Questionnaires and semi-structure interview were employed as research instruments. The data was analyzed by using percentage, while clustering data were completed by using data mining program in K-Means technique and the interview results were then described from the descriptive analysis. The research shows the different groups of teachers used different types of instructional media including non-projected material, projected and equipment, instructional media, and multimedia. The results revealed that all instructional media excepted multimedia were utilized. Multimedia was rarely selected and utilized because of the complex process. Finally, all four types of data clustering were classified based on gender, teaching in grade, the experience of teaching, academic teachers, knowledge of instructional media and regions. These factors affect the different selection and utilization of instructional media.