ERIC Number: EJ1106785
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2016
Pages: 14
Abstractor: ERIC
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-0819-4564
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Available Date: N/A
Integrating Technologies into Mathematics: Comparing the Cases of Square Roots and Integrals
Kissane, Barry
Australian Senior Mathematics Journal, v30 n1 p4-17 2016
Two decades ago, in an award-winning paper, Dan Kennedy (1995) likened learning mathematics to climbing a tree, for which there was only one way to climb: up a large and solid trunk. In the limited time that is available, many students give up the climb, impede others, fall off the trunk, or fail to climb the tree sufficiently well. In the case of integration, the solid trunk seems to be heavily laden with algebraic manipulation. Kennedy suggested that technology might provide help in the form of ladders to climb the tree in other ways. Just as the use of technology allowed us to bypass the numerical requirements to calculate square roots (and other aspects of basic mathematics), it now seems time to look carefully at the use of computer algebra to reconsider how much of the algebraic trunk is really needed to help students climb the tree, look around and start to explore the branches of the tree that look interesting to them.
Descriptors: Technology Integration, Mathematics, Mathematics Education, Comparative Analysis, Teaching Methods, Symbols (Mathematics), Mathematical Concepts, Mathematics Instruction, Foreign Countries, Mathematics Curriculum, Algebra, Calculators, Handheld Devices, Calculus, Trigonometry
Australian Association of Mathematics Teachers (AAMT). GPO Box 1729, Adelaide 5001, South Australia. Tel: +61-8-8363-0288; Fax: +61-8-8362-9288; e-mail: office@aamt.edu.au; Web site: http://www.aamt.edu.au
Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Evaluative
Education Level: N/A
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Identifiers - Location: Australia
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