Recently Utah schools have been given an F for technology use in the classroom (or lack thereof). This is one area I hope Utah continues to fail in. Technology has been touted as a fabulous tool for teaching math and other subjects, but it’s not. Technology teaches technology; you still have to learn math separately if you want to know math too.
The misconception that technology can be part of learning math stems from the fact that there are calculators that can produce the same numerical result as mathematical calculations. Sadly, calculator use does not produce the same cognitive result as actually learning math. Just because a student can produce the answer to 23+56 on a spreadsheet does not mean he has mastered double-digit addition, any more than the ability to microwave a TV dinner constitutes knowledge of cookery. Too many curricula nowadays conflate the ability to get answers with the knowledge of how the mathematics works. And too many teachers fall back on technology use as a crutch, to help them “teach” students who for whatever reason are having trouble grasping mathematical concepts. I’d be rich if I had a dollar for every student who’s been in his college professor’s office, trembling with fear of failure at remedial algebra, for no better reason than that he can’t add fractions to save his life and is now being asked to add rational expressions using the same method as fractions. Only, the rational expressions won’t go into his calculator, see.
If all we want is the ability to get answers fast, then by all means let’s train our kids to be calculator or spreadsheet jockeys. Let’s give prizes to the one who can push the buttons the fastest or has the lowest error rate. But if we really do want our kids to go on to learn algebra and calculus and other nifty stuff, we had damn well better put some actual math into their heads, because the skills developed by the actual learning of arithmetic (the old-fashioned way) are the ones algebra builds on. Trying to build knowledge of algebra on the false foundation of technology-assisted arithmetic is like trying to build a five-story building on mobile home jack stands. Oh, jack stands work well enough– if all you want to hold up is a mobile home. You can live quite comfortably in a mobile home, but it will never be the impressive edifice we should be aspiring to construct.
We need to decide exactly what it is we are trying to build here, so that we can put the appropriate foundation underneath it. Are we trying to get our kids through as many hoops called “algebra” and “geometry” as we can, or are we actually trying to teach algebra and geometry? Are we aiming to produce calculator jockeys, or are we aiming to produce people with the ability to think logically? If the former is all that matters, then give up trying to make high school students pass a test of actual algebra, because they’re never going to be able to do it. And if it’s the latter we want, we ought to be able to weather the opinions of those who give us F’s for lack of dependence on technology. We can laugh at them all the way to the bank when it’s time for actual performance to be measured.
Sarah Natividad lives with her husband and four children in Utah, where she teaches math at the post-secondary level and runs a small business. She can be found blogging at Organic Baby Farm.