“The Association of Mathematics Teacher Educators released the Standards for Preparing Teachers of Mathematics (SPTM; amte.net/standards) in 2017. To generate guidance as to how to apply teaching of mathematics with technology, a call for manuscripts is being extended by Contemporary Issues in Technology and Mathematics Teacher Education (CITE-Math). The following quote from the SPTM illustrates how important preservice teacher (PST) preparation can be:
Well-prepared beginners are able to guide students in exploring how technology can be used to explore patterns, shape, transformations, and sequences. Technology can assist one in making connections between multiple representations, and it can help students communicate their mathematical ideas to their classmates. Well-prepared beginning teachers are particularly prepared to use “mathematical action technologies” (p. 125).
Technology use is not to be taken lightly in building a healthy mathematics identity for all students. Mathematical reasoning and sense making is essential in students’ knowing and doing of mathematics. Teachers need to know when to support students’ learning needs with the use of technology. To understand appropriate design and implementation of technology, one must understand how mathematics learning takes place when using these tools. “These are powerful tools for doing mathematics that will be a part of the lives of the students they teach” (p. 125). This claim applies to elementary and middle levels of mathematics education as well as high school.
Being mindful of teaching techniques in intentionally designed technology can help change the teaching of mathematics into a joyful and purposeful activity while reinforcing effective teaching practices, promoted by the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics (NCTM) and AMTE through their SPTM. First, one must start with a well-defined goal, then look for visual, interactive patterns to help in making predictable relationships that support mathematical sense making.”
