Kształcenie przyszłych nauczycieli matematyki pod kątem używania technologii informacyjnej - stan obecny, perspektywy i zagrożenia

Abstract

The article is a report of research carried out at nine Polish universities. Over five hundred students were asked to fill in 2 questionnaires about learning and teaching mathematics with calculators and computers. The aims of the research concerning calculators were as follows: What types of calculators do the students have and how often do they use them? To what kind of mathematical activities do the students use calculators? How were calculators used, if at all, while the students themselves were learning mathematics at schools? How are calculators being used by the students` academic teachers of mathematics? To what activities do the students want to use calculators in their future work at schools? What was the impact of the students` experience in using calculators at school and at university on their attitude towards the idea of teaching mathematics with the use of calculators? A general diagnosis on perspectives and threats of calculators as tools in teaching mathematics. The aims of the research on computers were similar to those of calculators. Additionally, we checked what kind of software supporting teaching and learning mathematics the students know and use. The main results of our investigations may be expressed as follows: At schools calculators are used incidentally. The students have no habit of using calculators to learn and discover mathematics, and education at the university does not change this situation. The use of computers in school mathematics is almost (practically) negligible. The majority of students who get to know how to use computers in teaching and learning mathematics have positive attitude to the idea of more intensive usage of computers in their future work as teachers of mathematics. On the basis of our research we propose a model of education of maths teachers in using information technology in their future work at schools. We list the main technology skills that should be mastered by prospective teachers of mathematics and subsequently we suggest what kind of classes universities should offer in order to train these skills.