Mathematical Modelling and Technology in Teacher Education – Visions and Reality

Abstract

Teachers need to know both mathematics and computing tools, understanding the first in light of the second if they are to teach the mathematical modelling being proposed today. At the University of Gothenburg, prospective teachers took part in a course in which the mathematical content was designed to give them insight into how they could solve extended problems using mathematical modelling by drawing on technology and their background in mathematics. Software for dynamic geometry, spreadsheets, and curve fitting was used. Besides helping to connect teaching and assessment in the course, the technology also offered students new possibilities of documenting, visualizing, and reporting their work. The change in instruction from traditional lecturing to a more problem-based open dialogue resulted in a transformation of authority in which students did not critically question results from technology, which suggested that issues of responsibility and authority need to be made explicit in instruction. The prospective teachers' view of mathematics as an isolated subject with one correct answer appeared to change to an insight into mathematics as a living tool within all sciences. The way in which technology affects the teaching and learning of mathematics is a growing research field with many variables. We discuss several in this paper.