Using technology to support effective mathematics teaching

and learning: What counts?

By: Merrilyn Goos (The University of Queensland)
Abstract

What counts when it comes to using digital technologies in school mathematics? Is

technology there to help students get the answer more quickly and accurately, or to
improve the way they learn mathematics?
Introduction

Digital technologies have been available in school mathematics classrooms since the
introduction of simple four-function calculators in the 1970s. Since then, computers equipped
with increasingly sophisticated software, graphics calculators that have morphed into all
purpose hand-held devices integrating graphical, symbolic manipulation, statistical and
dynamic geometry packages, and web-based applications offering virtual learning
environments have changed the mathematics teaching and learning terrain. Or have they?
Three parts:

Key messages from research on learning and teaching mathematics with digital
technologies
- technology and mathematical knowledge
- technology and mathematical practices
Snapshots of classroom mathematical practice
- changing tasks and classroom interactions
- changing course goals and teaching methods
Aligning curriculum with research and practice.
Key messages from research on learning and teaching mathematics with digital
technologies

Fears are sometimes expressed that the use of technology, especially hand-held
calculators, will have a negative effect on students mathematics achievement. However,
meta-analyses of published research studies have consistently found that calculator use,
compared with non-calculator use, has either positive or neutral effects on students
operational, computational, conceptual or problem-solving skills. (Ellington, 2003; Hembree &
Dessart, 1986; Penglase & Arnold, 1996).
Technology and mathematical knowledge
If one considers mathematics to be a fixed body of knowledge to be learned, then
the role of technology in this process would be primarily that of an efficiency tool, i.e. helping
the learner to do the mathematics more efficiently. However, if we consider the
technological tools as providing access to new understandings of relations, processes, and
purposes, then the role of technology relates to a conceptual construction kit.
Technology and Mathematical Practices

Learning mathematics is as much about doing as it is about knowing. How knowing and
doing come together is evident in the mathematical practices of the classroom.

- Technology can be a master if students and teachers knowledge and competence

are limited to a narrow range of operations.
- Technology is a servant if used by students or teachers only as a fast, reliable
replacement for pen and paper calculations without changing the nature of
classroom activities.
- Technology is a partner when it provides access to new kinds of tasks or new ways of
approaching existing tasks to develop understanding, explore different perspectives,
or mediate mathematical discussion.
- Technology becomes an extension of self when seamlessly integrated into the
practices of the mathematics classroom.

Pierce and Stacey (2010) offer an alternative representation of the ways in which
technology can transform mathematical practices. Their pedagogical map classifies ten
types of pedagogical opportunities afforded by a wide range of mathematical analysis
software. Opportunities arise at three levels that represent the teachers thinking about:

- the tasks they will set their students (using technology to improve speed, accuracy,
access to a variety of mathematical representations)
- classroom interactions (using technology to improve the display of mathematical
solution processes and support students collaborative work)
- the subject (using technology to support new goals or teaching methods for a
mathematics course).
Snapshots of classroom mathematical practice

Two snapshots are presented here to illustrate how technology can be used creatively
to support new mathematical practices.
Changing tasks and classroom interactions

Geiger (2009) used the master-servant-partner-extension-of-self framework to analyze

a classroom episode in which he asked his Year 11 students to use the dynamic geometry
facility on their CAS calculators to draw a line 45 units long. His aim was to encourage
students to think about the geometric representation of irrational numbers.

Classroom interaction Role of technology

Students find the square roots of various
Servant
numbers.
Students pass calculators back and forth to share
Partner
and critique each others thinking.
Teacher invites student to present calculator work
Master
to whole class. Audience identifies
 misconceptions about how calculators display
decimal versions of irrational numbers.
Teacher hint: think about triangles. Students
search for Pythagorean formulation without Servant
geometric representation.
Teacher redirects students to consider geometry,
not just numbers. Student interrupts group
discussion to propose geometric solution; Master
passes his calculator around group to share
and defend his solution.

Changing course goals and teaching methods

Geiger, Faragher and Goos (in press) investigated how CAS technologies support
students learning and social interactions when they are engaged in mathematical
modelling tasks. In this snapshot, Year 12 students worked on the following question: When
will a population of 50,000 bacteria become extinct if the decay rate is 4% per day?

In this episode the teacher exploited the confrontation created by the CAS output to
promote productive interaction among the class (technology as partner). Using this
pedagogical opportunity allowed the teacher to refocus course goals and teaching
methods on promoting thinking about the mathematical modelling process rather than on
practice of skills.
Aligning curriculum with research and practice

The brief research summary and classroom snapshots presented above show how
digital technologies provide a conceptual construction kit (Olive & Makar, 2010, p. 138)
that can transform students mathematical knowledge and practices. To what extent does
the Australian curriculum Mathematics support this transformative view of technology?

Digital technologies were seen as offering new ways to learn and teach mathematics
that helped deepen students mathematical understanding. It was also acknowledged that
students should learn to choose intelligently between technology, mental, and pencil and
paper methods. In both the K10 and senior secondary mathematics curricula, uses of
technology, where made explicit, are mostly consistent with the servant metaphor of Goos
et al. (2003), despite the more transformative intentions evident in the initial shaping paper.
Pedagogical opportunities afforded by the curriculum are restricted to the level of tasks in
Pierce and Staceys (2010) taxonomy, in that technology may be used to make
computation and graphing quicker and more accurate and possibly to link representations.
Although the technology messages contained in the Australian curriculum Mathematics do
not do justice to what research tells us about effective teaching and learning of
mathematics, it is almost inevitable that there are gaps between an intended curriculum
and the curriculum enacted by teachers and students in the classroom. Many teachers are
already using technology effectively to enhance students understanding and enjoyment of
mathematics. In their hands lies the task of enacting a truly futures-oriented curriculum that
will prepare students for intelligent, adaptive and critical citizenship in a technology-rich
world.