Computer Literacy for School Pupils: The Psychological and Pedagogical Problems

Abstract

The incursion of mathematics into spheres of human intellectual and practical activity that do not traditionally fall within its purview—an incursion which has been made possible by the development of computer hardware and software and by rapid advances in information science—is a characteristic trait of the scientific and technological revolution. The modern applications of mathematics (not just as a material cause to use computers but as an important element in software engineering) have given general research methods a foothold in virtually all fields of contemporary social production. Mankind is now more aware than ever before that knowledge does not become precise until it is rendered as a mathematical model. The mathematization process, which is a kind of interdisciplinary interaction, has experienced some substantial change in recent decades. Not only has there been an abrupt widening of the area wherein mathematical methods are being applied; there has also been a radical revision of attitudes toward the role mathematics plays in scientific and technological progress. Mathematics is no longer a mere tool that is used to perform quantitative calculations. It is literally the be-all and end-all of development in the exact sciences. Mathematization could not, however, have attained its contemporary status as a revolutionizing force if mathematical methods had continued to predominate in the stream of data flowing into that bridging discipline of [information?] science.