The role of technology in teaching and learning has changed from being a tool of entertainment to being an essential tool for instruction. The extended use of technology within and out of class requires that teachers explore effective ways of teaching using technology that can enhance the learning of mathematics as well as motivate students to learn mathematics effectively. Recent studies suggest that technology can be an effective tool for motivating students (Ertmer & Ottenbreit-Leftwich, 2010; Ertmer, 2010) and is useful for improving students’ mathematics achievement (Demirbilek & Tamer, 2010; Van den Heuvel-Panhuizen et al., 2013). In particular, the use of computers as a learning tool in mathematics has been documented to be related
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More than half of Singaporean teachers (56.04%) strongly agreed that computers were available for students use during in their mathematics lessons compared to the teachers in the United States(43.6%).
The instructional activities in which computer use was employed varied. In the United States, computers were most often used to practice skills and procedures (28.97%), while in Singapore it was only 9.19 percent for the same purpose. In contrast, 53.93 percent of American teachers hardly had students look up ideas and information on the computer and 57.57 percent of Singaporean teachers reported hardly having the students use computers to process and analyze data.
These initial findings show that the use of computers for teaching mathematics differs between the teachers in the United States and Singapore. These preliminary findings suggest that there is need to further investigate the ways in which computer use for teaching mathematics is related to students’ mathematics reasoning and beliefs about
More than half of Singaporean teachers (56.04%) strongly agreed that computers were available for students use during in their mathematics lessons compared to the teachers in the United States(43.6%).
The instructional activities in which computer use was employed varied. In the United States, computers were most often used to practice skills and procedures (28.97%), while in Singapore it was only 9.19 percent for the same purpose. In contrast, 53.93 percent of American teachers hardly had students look up ideas and information on the computer and 57.57 percent of Singaporean teachers reported hardly having the students use computers to process and analyze data.
These initial findings show that the use of computers for teaching mathematics differs between the teachers in the United States and Singapore. These preliminary findings suggest that there is need to further investigate the ways in which computer use for teaching mathematics is related to students’ mathematics reasoning and beliefs about