Digital Technologies and Mathematics Education

These resources, written in 2011 and provided by the Joint Mathematical Council (JMC), discuss the role that digital technologies might and should have in mathematics education. Consideration is given to the types of experiences students encounter and how best to develop the curriculum to engage students in using skills to explore a variety of aspects of mathematics.

Ofsted reports have concluded that technology is underused within mathematics and that its potential is generally underexploited. Usage of digital technology within school mathematics has been predominantly teacher-led and mainly focused on presentational software such as PowerPoint and interactive whiteboard software.

[b]Digital technologies and mathematics education[/b] - states that barriers to a more creative student-focussed use of digital technologies include a perception that they are an add-on to doing and learning mathematics, as well as current assessment practices, which do not allow the use of digital technologies.

Recommendations for the content of the new mathematics curriculum include:

*The specification of the knowledge and skills required to use digital technologies within mathematical modelling and problem solving activities across a range of subject areas.

*Student-led mathematical modelling and problem solving, which make use of the powerful mathematical digital technologies that are widely used in society and the workplace.

*A component of computer programming, interpreted in the widest sense of creating and communicating a set of instructions to a computer for a clear purpose.

[b]Executive summary[/b] - provides an overview of the report.

The Joint Mathematical Council was established in 1963 to promote the advancement of mathematics and the improvement of the teaching of mathematics.