Recently in the Family Life section of the Poughkeepsie Journal there was an article titled "Math apps that measure up" written by Jinny Gudmundsen. The article was written on Oct. 1, 2013.
After reading the article I began to think at how much easier my life is because of technology and how much easier math is because of technology. But that there raises the question... is easier necessarily a better thing?
I came up with a list of just a few technological advances that make math easier:
Mathematica, Online tutoring, whiteboard, graphing calculator, wolfram alpha. There are many many more and in many different niches. All of the these programs work off of complex algorithms all designed to compute mathematical equations quickly, neatly, and easily.
Since we live in an age of social media and technology this should be expected that there are a products that make math easier but is that a good thing? What is your opinion? Does technology hamper or help?
Personally I think that sometimes working with technology and allowing it to solve the problem takes away from the person actually understanding the math behind why they got the answer they got or why this theorem works. Technology is great but it shouldn't be the main method. We should be able to know what we should have to leave for a tip at a restaurant or what 20% off at our favorite department store is without having to take out our cellphones and type it in.
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This is a blog for students who are planning on becoming Elementary Teachers, specifically for those who have a concentration in mathematics.
I agree in the idea that technology, though it may make coming to an end result much faster, is and has taken away from learning and comprehension of mathematical operations and concepts. In the technology age of faster, quicker, better, and more portable applications and hardware, a struggling student can turn to these "apps" to get the work done. The disservices arises at the time when such advances are not available for one reason or another.
ReplyDeleteI agree with you both. I would say that calculators should not be introduced until high school when there is a certain level of sophistication to the math problems being solved. The student should already have a handle on the basics and should not get "addicted" so easily. If you think about many other technological advances - cell phones, computers, etc. - they have drawbacks as well. We don't memorize phone numbers anymore, which makes us lose some brain power. We also don't really have a need to alphabetize anymore because we just do Google searches and don't have to look things up in a card catalog anymore (some of you as my students might not even know what a card catalog is!!!). There are so many of these once basic skills that are now going out the window. I don't think it is a good thing.
ReplyDeleteI also think that technology has both advantages and disadvantages. Like what you mentioned, I believe that such as Mathematica, Online tutoring, whiteboard, graphing calculator does help many students to do their math more affectively. But in the same time I think we should limit the use of the technology and should not depend on calculator. For example, just like what you said that we should be able to know how to calculate the amount of tip without calculator.
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