Beliefs about tools and technology in learning mathematics: Unproductive Productive Beliefs Current Beliefs Action to Take Beliefs Calculators and other Technology is an tools are at best a frill inescapable fact of life or distraction and at in the world in which worst a crutch that we live and should be keeps students from embraced as a powerful learning mathematics. tool for doing Students should use mathematics. Using these tools only after technology can assist they have learned how students in visualizing to do procedures with and understanding paper and pencil. important mathematical concepts and support students’ mathematical reasoning and problem solving. School mathematics is Technology and other static. What students tools not only change need to know about how to teach but also mathematics is affect what can be unchanged (or maybe taught. They can assist even threatened) by the students in investigating presence of technology. mathematical ideas and problems that might otherwise be too difficult or to explore. Physical and virtual Students at all grade manipulatives should be levels can benefit from used only with very the use of physical and young children who virtual manipulative need visuals and materials to provide opportunities to explore visual models of a range by moving objects. of mathematical ideas. Technology should be Finding answers to a used primarily as a mathematical quick way to get correct computation is not answers to sufficient. Students computations. need to understand whether an answer is reasonable and how the results apply to a given context. They also need to be able to consider
Beliefs about tools and technology in learning mathematics: Unproductive Beliefs Productive Beliefs Current Beliefs Action to Take Calculators and other tools are at best a frill or distraction and at worst a crutch that keeps students from learning mathematics. Students should use these tools only after they have learned how to do procedures with paper and pencil. Technology is an inescapable fact of life in the world in which we live and should be embraced as a powerful tool for doing mathematics. Using technology can assist students in visualizing and understanding important mathematical concepts and support students’ mathematical reasoning and problem solving. School mathematics is static. What students need to know about mathematics is unchanged (or maybe even threatened) by the presence of technology. Technology and other tools not only change how to teach but also affect what can be taught. They can assist students in investigating mathematical ideas and problems that might otherwise be too difficult or to explore. Physical and virtual manipulatives should be used only with very young children who need visuals and opportunities to explore by moving objects. Students at all grade levels can benefit from the use of physical and virtual manipulative materials to provide visual models of a range of mathematical ideas. Technology should be used primarily as a quick way to get correct answers to computations. Finding answers to a mathematical computation is not sufficient. Students need to understand whether an answer is reasonable and how the results apply to a given context. They also need to be able to consider
Teaching%20and%20Learning%20Mathematics%20beliefs.docx