From the Slate to the Web: Technology in the Mathematics Curriculum

The employment of physical tools to assist teaching and learning of mathematics did not begin with electronic devices, and has a much longer history than is often recognized. At times, technology has functioned as the inventive embodiment of mathematical ideas, progressing somewhat in step with the evolution of mathematics itself. At other times, technology has entered mathematics from outside, notably from commerce and science. This chapter surveys the evolution and curricular influence of technology in mathematics instruction in the Eastern and Western worlds from ancient times to the present day, with the primary focus being on the last 200 years. Past technology is categorized into tools for information storage, tools for information display, tools for demonstration, and tools for calculation. It is argued that today's computing technology offers teachers and students the potential to move beyond these categories, and to experience mathematics in ways that are different from traditional school mathematics curricula. A window is opened through which mathematics teaching and learning might enter into a new epistemological domain, where knowledge becomes both personal and communal, and in which connective and explorative mathematical knowledge becomes vastly more accessible.