This book is an exploration of tools and mathematics and issues in mathematics education related to tool use. The book has five parts. The first part reflects on doing a mathematical task with different tools, followed by a mathematician's account of tool use in his work. The second considers prehistory and history: tools in the development from ape to human; tools and mathematics in the ancient world; tools for calculating; and tools in mathematics instruction. The third part opens with a broad review of technology and intellectual trends, circa 1970, and continues with three case studies of approaches in mathematics education and the place of tools in these approaches. The fourth part considers issues related to mathematics instructions: curriculum, assessment and policy; the calculator debate; mathematics in the real world; and teachers' use of technology. The final part looks to the future: task and tool design and new forms of activity via connectivity and computer games.

In this book, topics such as algebra, trigonometry, calculus and statistics are brought to life through over 500 applications ranging from biology, physics and chemistry to astronomy, geography and music. With over 600 illustrations emphasizing the beauty of mathematics, Math Tools complements more theoretical textbooks on the market, bringing the subject closer to the reader and providing a useful reference to students. By highlighting the ubiquity of mathematics in practical fields, the book will appeal not only to students and teachers, but to anyone with a keen interest in mathematics and its applications.

Originally published: Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1987.

This book explores the option of building on symbolizing, modeling and tool use as personally meaningful activities of students. It discusses the dimension of setting: varying from the study of informal, spontaneous activity of students, to an explicit focus on instructional design, and goals and effects of instruction; and the dimension of the theoretical framework of the researcher: varying from constructivism, to activity theory, cognitive psychology and instructional-design theory.

This book provides international perspectives on the use of digital technologies in primary, lower secondary and upper secondary school mathematics. It gathers contributions by the members of three topic study groups from the 13th International Congress on Mathematical Education and covers a range of themes that will appeal to researchers and practitioners alike. The chapters include studies on technologies such as virtual manipulatives, apps, custom-built assessment tools, dynamic geometry, computer algebra systems and communication tools. Chiefly focusing on teaching and learning mathematics, the book also includes two chapters that address the evidence for technologies’ effects on school mathematics. The diverse technologies considered provide a broad overview of the potential that digital solutions hold in connection with teaching and learning. The chapters provide both a snapshot of the status quo of technologies in school mathematics, and outline how they might impact school mathematics ten to twenty years from now.

From the blackboard to the graphing calculator, the tools developed to teach mathematics in America have a rich history shaped by educational reform, technological innovation, and spirited entrepreneurship. In Tools of American Mathematics Teaching, 1800–2000, Peggy Aldrich Kidwell, Amy Ackerberg-Hastings, and David Lindsay Roberts present the first systematic historical study of the objects used in the American mathematics classroom. They discuss broad tools of presentation and pedagogy (not only blackboards and textbooks, but early twentieth-century standardized tests, teaching machines, and the overhead projector), tools for calculation, and tools for representation and measurement. Engaging and accessible, this volume tells the stories of how specific objects such as protractors, geometric models, slide rules, electronic calculators, and computers came to be used in classrooms, and how some disappeared.

Common Core + Differentiated Instruction + Student Engagement = Higher Student Achievement If you′re like most math teachers, this is a problem you wrestle with every day. Harvey Silver and his colleagues have updated their best-selling text to provide a solution. With new Common Core–aligned tools and strategies, this second edition of Math Tools, Grades 3–12 is an all-in-one math classroom management resource that will enable you to teach to the Common Core, differentiate instruction, and keep students engaged—all at the same time. Covering everything from lesson design to math-specific learning styles, the second edition′s 60+ tools will enable you to: Work in smarter, more efficient ways with all of your students, no matter the class size or make up Create standards-based lesson plans, tests, and formative assessments Reach every learner regardless of understanding level or learning style Integrate technology into class time for more engaging math lessons Add in a Common Core matrix, immediately useable reproducibles, and learning-style charts—and you′re fully equipped to make the ambitions of the Common Core Math Standards a reality in your classroom.