This week, I explored some new (and old) technologies used to support algebra learning. I have been sharing a lot of what I have learned in my CEP 805 course through these blog posts, but I realized I rarely discuss my background and where my mind is before learning all of the wonderful content in this course. So, before I dive into what I learned, I first want to outline the mindset that I entered this week with.
Algebra is one of my favorite content areas in math for a multitude of reasons. I have had outstanding algebra teachers in my life who have had robust Mathematical Knowledge for Teaching (Hill & Ball, 2009), combining each of the six areas of MKT perfectly to thoroughly teach their students. These teachers made me fall in love with math and lit a spark in me which has grown larger the further I explore the content. Because of my relationship with Algebra content, I have formed specific relationships with the tools I use in algebra learning. I was excited entering this week’s technology exploration because I have always found great use of algebra technologies. While watching a peer’s reflection on the technology “Wolfram Alpha”, I realized that I have a different relationship with certain technologies when they are used in algebra settings than when they are used with other content areas (ex. calculus). With this specific app, I always held a caution around using it with students because I only ever used it in a calculus setting, after spending hours attempting problems to no avail, and resorting to this app to find the right answer. Because I had a very specific connection between this app and my calculus experience, I always assumed other students would use it in the same way and wanted to avoid its use entirely. The narrative changed when I looked at a very similar app, PhotoMath. I had used PhotoMath in my algebra courses, and had positive relationships with it. Even though this app is structured the same as Wolfram Alpha, I used the app to assist in my learning, rather than merely get the right answer for me. It was used in low-stakes environments, with no stress or expectations. My teacher allowed the use of PhotoMath in introductory lessons. We would spend 5-10 minutes attempting to solve a problem before learning the content. We would then spend 5 minutes with the PhotoMath answer, getting acquainted with the process for ourselves, and then would dive into the content and learn what each of the steps in PhotoMath told us. In this way, we used the same type of technology in a way that allowed us to form a positive relationship with it and not abuse it. Looking back on this use, I can see where my teacher had a really developed Knowledge of Content and Students (Hill&Ball, 2009), knowing how we learn, what tools were out there, how we might abuse them, and setting the norm for how they should be used before we have the chance to abuse them. Moving forward with my learning, I want to keep these realizations in mind and address any other biases I may have towards certain technologies before I explore them further. Resources: Hill, H., & Ball, D. L. (2009). The curious - and crucial - case of Mathematical Knowledge for Teaching. Phi Delta Kappan, 91(2), 68–71.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
Welcome!Sit back, relax, and enjoy (or don't, up to you)! Archives
August 2023
Categories |