"About using calculators in the classroom: I think it is incumbent on every
teacher who uses them to make it very clear when they are appropriate and to
use them to check not replace thinking. And I'm afraid those of us using
them have to make up for mistakes made whether by previous teachers or by our
students or both. "
I want to add the following thoughts:
Teaching mathematics well with hand-held technology requires learning on the
part of the teacher. Beginners make mistakes in their craft. All that you teach
must be re-thought in light of using hand-held technology as a teaching tool.
Conference sessions and short courses help us take advantage of what others
have learned. Some teachers don't or can't take advantage of this professional
development and must learn on their own. The point is that we must "learn" how
to teach mathematics. We must learn how to teach for understanding -- with or
without the use of hand-held technology. But certainly, teaching with hand-held
technology is not the reason that some students come to your class only knowing
mindless button pushing. It was a teacher who didn't understand his/her craft.
(Or maybe didn't care about the craft of teaching.)
No matter how I look at teaching with hand-held technology it presents
interesting challenges that some master and others don't. Kind of the same as
teaching without technology. Some teachers may see challenges as obstacles and
fail to learn good teaching. Some in our ranks may never teach well with
technology, just like some will never teach well without technology.
I wonder if the teacher who use to tell students to memorize algorithms is the
same teacher telling students to memorize keystrokes and use programs blindly
without understanding? I am reminded of another posting I made to this list
when I overheard the TA telling a student who came in for help that the student
would probably never understand the quadratic formula but that he should
"learn" it for the next test. This kind of teaching takes place with or without
the use of hand-held technology.
Ed Laughbaum
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