Technology

As a mathematics teacher the TI navigator system would be the ideal piece of technology for me to utilize to enhance my students learning. In Math Modeling we used the Navigator system to do assignments and to work as a class to solve problems. The Navigator system lets the instructor monitor the screens of each of the student, it is also allows the instructor to give quizzes to the students. Along side the TI Navigator system the use of Java applets to help visualize three dimensional objects, will greatly help the students in grasping the complex three dimensional objects. Java applets also allow you to run virtual experiments which do not suffer from errors such as friction or air resistance. Virtual experiments are also faster and give perfect data. Some limitations of virtual experiments are that you need to have a computer for every student. Virtual experiments also lack the tactile experience, and the graphics may not be as good. The use of technology is useful in visualizing graphs and shapes that are other wise very difficult to imagine. But there are distinct limitations to technology and the use of technology is not appropriate in every situations. An example of when technology is not appropriate is having students use their calculators to solve basic mathematical problems. By doing this the students will not learn the process.