Daniel J. Brahier
Department of Educational Curriculum & Instruction
Bowling Green State University
Bowling Green, OH 43403

OCTOBER 2001

The theme of the April 2001 “Musings” column was on Internet use in the preparation of mathematics teachers.  While universities actively use the Internet and teach undergraduates how to incorporate the Web and other technology into teaching, there is an issue of preparing teachers for schools that do not exist; that is, schools that have no Internet access or very little technology available for students.  There is clearly a gap between the technology that most universities possess (and use for instruction) and the level of technology available in many of our public schools.

This year, I am on leave from Bowling Green State University and have chosen to use the year to go back in to the classroom as a full-time mathematics teacher.  I am teaching in a high school that is on a block schedule and uses a popular integrated mathematics textbook series.  From the inside, I am reminding myself of what it is like to teach 136 students in five classes, including Integrated II (sophomores), Integrated III (juniors and seniors), and Introduction to College Algebra (seniors), not to mention Study Hall duty.  The issue of “lack of technology” has immediately come to light in my new position.  While the school is considered very progressive, has a couple hundred computers in the building, has Internet access (to the teacher's computer) in every classroom, and even uses the computers for attendance and grading, there are major gaps that get in the way from helping me to teach more effectively.

First, the fact that there is only one computer in each classroom, and that the computer is for the teacher's use, means that students have limited access to the technology.  If I want my students to visit a Web site on fractal geometry (which they will be doing in a week or so), I have to schedule the use of the computer lab in advance and hope that it is available on the day I need it, not being used by an English teacher using it for word processing or a foreign language teacher using the computers for tutorials on grammar.  I can certainly understand now why the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics recommended a classroom computer with demonstration capabilities for each classroom, even in the Curriculum and Evaluation Standards for School Mathematics back in 1989.  The foresight there is simply amazing!

In addition, I have set up a Web site for my classes, and students can visit those pages to remind themselves of what was done on each day, to track past homework assignments, and to pull up copies of syllabi, class rules, and rubrics.  However, many of my students do not have Internet access at home, and the only place in school where they can get to the Web is in the Library.  Unless they have an early bus that arrives more than 10 minutes before school or can stick around after school, they have no way to access the Web pages I have so diligently created for their use.  On a more positive note, our school does require every freshman to purchase a graphing calculator, so every mathematics teacher can expect every student to own one as they progress through the grades.  This rule has been a point of light in an otherwise dimly-lit path of technological advances.

Returning to the theme of the April 2001 “Musings” column, I fear that technology in the schools is not keeping pace with the growth of technology at the college and university level.  In effect, we may be “setting up” our undergraduates for frustration when we prepare them to teach in an environment that doesn't exist, even in some of the best schools in our nation.  Yet, to deny them access to the tools and what is possible would be shortchanging our students who deserve the latest and the best as we develop them as teachers of mathematics.  Where is the desirable middle ground?  How can we effectively prepare in-service teachers by providing enough technological experiences to bring them into the “loop” while not sending them down another ivory tower footpath?  We are interested in any reactions that you might have to this issue.  Please take a minute to send a short email comment to Daniel Brahier at brahier@bgnet.bgsu.edu.  Reaction comments can be included in future ‘Musings’ column publications in Intersection Points.