TPCK in mathematics education

Flexibility, creativity, and imagination was at the center of this chapter which focused on TPACK in mathematics education. Connecting mathematics to the real world was another big concept that was discussed and exemplified on page 155 of our book. The challenge was to think about how to best teach pre-service, in-service, and our students all of the above without leading them to one program (or set of programs), but to build a solid foundation with the content while allowing them to creatively engage in their own meaning-making process using technology. This process is not intended to be separate, but integrated into lessons. The third construct was, pedagogy, and how educators successfully and comfortably teaching content using a “variety of approaches and strategies (p151).”

For all content areas the best uses of technology will be a “wicked problem (p. 146).” How and when teachers should incorporate technology into their lessons, and how often they allow students to use these tools will be huge questions in the near future. “It will become increasing important that teachers be adept at deciding where technology fits in such mathematics (and other content areas) instruction (p. 149).”

A few outstanding ideas that I’d like to see happen in all content areas (pre-k through 8) came from the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics. Not only did they take a stand, stating that “technology is an essential part of a current mathematics curriculum, that it leads to a variety of higher-order learning outcomes, and that it’s essential to have in any mathematics program, but they went as far as saying it may be necessary to limit the number of mathematics topics taught at each of the PreK through 8th grade levels so that teachers could cover this content more efficiently and in more depth.” This is not a new concept for teachers, but it’s nice to see such an organization writing down feelings that many of us share.

“A teacher who has a strong background in TPCK offers her student a considerable advantage in the learning of mathematics (p 155).” Being open, flexible, and willing to learn are truly the keys to life. Although I wanted to dig my feet in, thinking that I could teach without computers, I’m seeing how important it is to learn how to best incorporate technology into my lessons.