Summer 2004

Talking Maths

Making Maths More Enjoyable

An overview of electronic technology presently being applied in teaching mathematics and how it helps teachers and students alike, by CAROL MOULE.

WHAT DO vacuum cleaners, washing machines and dishwashers have to do with mathematics and calculations? Nothing much—except that as the former have taken some of the drudgery out of housework, transforming the tasks into more manageable (dare I say enjoyable) activities, so the use of electronic technology has transformed mathematics in the classroom.

Calculators of various types have taken much of the drudgery out of calculations, but they have also transformed the way the subject is taught, how students learn it and how both students and teachers enjoy it. Similarly, the use of computers, and particularly access to the Internet, has transformed what students can do in the classroom and at home.

Yes, students still need to learn basic number facts and skills, but in many situations where the concept or outcome is more important than the calculations or the numerical process, a calculating device is very helpful. Students can deal with ‘less contrived’ data as the calculator does not care how many decimal places or how big the numbers are. The use of calculators aids the learning process as patterns are quickly discerned and students are generally happy to experiment with ‘what ifs?’ and to learn by discovery.

My experience and interest are mainly with senior secondary students. Electronic technology has had a huge impact on how I teach and how the students are exposed to new concepts and ideas, the types of problems they can now solve and the way in which their confidence grows as they have new ways to explore the subject. A good example is in the use of interactive geometry software which allows students to draw figures, measure, conjecture and move the diagrams about to test their ideas and understanding.

Basic number-crunching calculators, replacing logarithmic and trigonometric tables, have now been superseded in secondary classrooms by graphics calculators which do far more than the name suggests. These calculators can be used to draw graphs and explore their properties unencumbered by calculations, but they are also used to analyse data in various ways, test hypotheses, solve huge equations in many variables by matrices, etc. They make the use of differential and integral calculus somewhat obsolete, or at least allow students to find answers to problems that in the past could only be done with calculus. They provide opportunities for students to investigate informally many ideas well before they would normally have been in the curriculum, and which can then be formalised in later years when the concept has already been at least partially understood.

Graphics calculators as described above are really hand-held computers—incredibly powerful machines which students can have access to at all times. Of course computers are faster and more powerful but, as most teachers find, are generally not available without planning and booking ahead. It is hard to plan ahead for the creativity and illumination that instant access to the technology provides. The beauty of the hand-held is its instant availability as students usually have their own for use at home as well as in the classroom. The latest models now include a Computer Algebra System (CAS) which allows algebraic as well as numeric calculations and activities, so that conceptual development in more abstract topics can be learned, with the calculator ‘scaffolding’ student steps and understanding without the frustrations of numerical errors or poorly executed processes.

There is so much mathematical software available to teachers now that it is difficult to keep up and take advantage of it all. The Internet offers an interactive medium and such a wealth of information on almost any topic of interest at the touch of a button that it is difficult to utilise all that is available. Electronic technology has certainly revolutionised the way mathematics is taught and learnt. In my view, it has made many of the concepts and ideas accessible to a wider audience of students than ever before, making the subject more enjoyable and meaningful and far less of a ‘black box of meaningless tricks’ that students have had to endure.

Long live the revolution!

Carol Moule is senior teacher of mathematics at Westminster School, Marion and vice president of the Mathematical Association of South Australia.

The author owns the copyright in this article. For information related to the reuse of this work in any form please contact the publisher denise.quinn@curriculum.edu.au