BLOGGING-RESEARCH PAPER-WHAT IS THE USE OF TECHNOLOGY IN THE MATH CLASSROOM

As I started doing research on my topic, technology in the math classroom, I began to notice that many of the different strands of technology all dealt with the same thing. So instead of doing research on what software, computers and calculators have helped with the math classroom enter the 21st century, I decided to do the majority of the research on what this technology is actually doing instead of what the technology is. Students needed help with mathematical literacy and competence when it comes to declarative, procedural and conceptual development. Technological literacy tells us whether or not a student has the ability to use, manage, assess and recall the information that they were able to process with the help of technology. In the math classroom, the technology must help our students build and support the three aspects of developing knowledge. Declarative knowledge is any knowledge that is factual. An example of this is 4+4= 8 or the definition of a square is a four sided shape with all equal sides and meet at right angles. Procedural knowledge is explained as how you get from point A to point B. Orders of operations is a procedure that falls into this category. Finally conceptual knowledge deals with the understanding of why the student used certain operations to get a particular answer. As a teacher we need to remember that a student + a computer does not = learning. A student + a computer + an engaged teacher = learning. We need to remember that the teacher is the key, not the computer.

Throughout the research, I found that there are six purposes to support mathematical learning. The most important one is building computational fluency. One must be able to recall answers to basic math facts in order to achieve higher math skills. The FASTT Math program helps developing factual knowledge by helping the student link basic math facts to long term memory. So of a situation that states you need to know where you came from to find out where you are going. Computers that help you find facts are just that, if you don’t know how to use the facts that you found, you won’t be able to process the knowledge and continue the path that you are trying to reach. Development of one knowledge is directly supportive of the next level of knowledge. The framework of mathematics is much sturdier and easy build upon when fluency, literacy and competence are in order.  We need to remember that the person teaching or inputing the technology is more important than the technology itself.  If the teacher is inputing proper material then and only then will a class or a student get the most out of what they are doing.  The other important part of this equation is that the student needs to be motivated to learn, if they are not you will be talking to a blank screen.