Year: 2004
Type: conference-paper
Abstract: This paper examines Year 7 students use and learning of ratio concepts while engaged in the technology practice of designing, constructing and evaluating simple machines, that used cogs and pulleys. It was found that most students made considerable progress in accounting for ratio concepts in their constructions and some constructed sophisticated machines and provided explicit and quantitative descriptions involving ratio reasoning. The findings have implications for the study of mathematics in integrated and contextual settings. One of the critical questions facing mathematics education today relates to learning contexts. In particular what kinds of mathematical tools and representations are needed to promote mathematical learning and how these tools should be used (English, 2002). New technologies are giving rise to major changes in mathematics education. There are now numerous opportunities for students and teachers to engage in mathematical experiences that were scarcely contemplated a decade ago. However, the effective use of new technologies neither happens automatically, nor will the use of technology lead to improvements in mathematics learning without changes to the curriculum (Niss, 1999).
Source: Griffith Research Online
Author: Stephen John Norton
Institution: Queensland University of Technology
Language: English
Subfield: Education
Field: Social Sciences
Domain: Social Sciences
SDG: Quality education
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W78237194