Algebra In A Technological World

8-25-97
University Park, Pa. -- Remember the movie "Peggy Sue Got Married?" In it, Kathleen Turner goes back to high school. Sitting in algebra class, she announces to the teacher and the rest of the class, "I happen to know you will never have any use for this in your life."

Now, thanks to computer graphing tools, symbolic-manipulation programs and sophisticated spreadsheets, students are studying algebra in ways that help them describe and explain the world, rather than just solve math problems. In short, the algebra of the future allows students to solve real-world problems using technology.

It's part of the new vision for algebra and the topic of a teacher's guide authored by Dr. M. Kathleen Heid, associate professor of education at Penn State. "Algebra in a Technological World" advocates the use of algebra computer tools that enable students to explore the mathematical relationships they observe in their world.

One problem challenges students to pretend they're organizing a talent show fund-raiser. Students have to decide how many tickets, sodas and snacks to sell and at what price. Once the variables are entered, the computer calculates profits. Students soon learn that profits change as the price and total sales mix change.

In another example, students use computer simulations of skateboard ramps to determine how changes in grade affect skateboard speed. As the ramp height changes, so does skateboard speed.

"Many people may not recognize it as what they learned in school, but this is algebra," says Heid. "The guide answers the question, 'How will this help me in the future?'"

Emphasizing the need to attract more women and minorities to the field of mathematics, Heid concludes, "For too long, we've filtered people out of mathematics instead of opening up the beauty of the subject to them. We, as a nation, are in trouble right now because we are not producing enough mathematicians."

Published by the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics (NCTM), the booklet "Algebra in a Technological World," guides teachers in the implementation of the national mathematics standards, the NCTM curriculum and evaluation standards. Research for the booklet on student learning, computer-algebra tools and the development of sample computer-algebra curriculum, was funded by the National Science Foundation.

"A technology-based algebraic curriculum allows students to ask their own questions, pose their own problems and use computing tools to solve those problems. Teachers focus on understanding each student's construction of mathematical ideas and on facilitating the student's exploration of these ideas," says Heid.

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Contact: Catherine Motivans (814) 863-1192 (office) cam4@psu.edu