I’ve been reading through Roblyer & Doering’s, Integrating Educational Technology into Teaching, in particular the fourth chapter which talks about technology integration strategies based on directed and constructivist models.
I find my self reflecting on my time completing my first teaching placement as a Mathematics teacher. I find my self impartial to both learning theories and their respective integration strategies.
On one hand, procedural practice and drilling are absolutely essential in building foundational skills and achieving fluency in solving mathematical problems. Which highlights the importance of integration strategies based on directed teaching models. ICT tools such as drill-and-practice software (Cambridge, Mathematica ,Algebra touch) with immediate feedback and crrective instruction. See the table below.
Furthermore, to work towards mastery of learning mathematics content students must be able to understand and visualise abstract mathematical concepts and apply them to the real world. Which brings us to constructivist learning. Tools like graphing applications (DESMOS) to visualise functions and statistical analysis software to analyse publicly available data from the internet. See table below.
Ultimately, I believe both models must be applied in the mathematics classroom. What do you choose? Let me know your thoughts in the comment section.
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