Michelle Ostberg (President) comments on technology use to Bethany Hiatt of Chanel 7 News

Hi Beth, comment is as follows:

First, this is discussing two completely separate issues. The first is the suggestion that in primary school, students are being taught to use a calculator instead of being taught basic mathematical and numeracy skills. This is ridiculous. Anyone who has set foot in a primary mathematics classroom in the last 20 years can tell you that calculators are used as a learning tool and not as a substitute for learning the ‘basics’. In fact, when used correctly, they enable students to develop a better understanding of many mathematical concepts. There is a wealth of research evidence to support this, some of which is referred to in the National Numeracy Review Report, May 2008. This review recommends '[t]hat from the earliest years, greater emphasis be given to providing students with frequent exposure to higher-level mathematical problems rather than routine procedural tasks …'. This is not to say that students should not learn appropriate methods for successfully dealing with the routine procedural tasks, but that this is not sufficient to develop true depth of understanding. The Report later refers to the Calculators in Primary Mathematics project which ‘showed how facilitating children’s access to hand-held computational calculators in the early years led to significant and profound contribution to understanding, skill and performance. These achievements included success at mental computational tasks.’ The Report goes on to point out that researchers in this area believe that calculators are underutilised in the primary classroom given the potential benefits to student learning. I question where Prof Bray’s evidence to the contrary resides as I have not seen the studies on which he bases his statements.

Prior to the introduction of calculators, students were previously only ever taught rote-learned pencil and paper procedures which only the strongest students were able to be consistently successful with, and fewer students understood. The mental agility to which Prof Bray refers was only ever evident in those students who had a natural ability in the area or who supplemented their school studies with a high degree of routine practice. Now students are explicitly taught a range of strategies for mental and written computation (with the emphasis on mental strategies) which allow students the capacity to personalise their approach to one that they understand and can use efficiently and effectively. The Western Australian Department of Education and Training developed First Steps in Mathematics program is highly effective in this area and internationally recognised as such. One aspect of teaching calculator use in the primary classroom is to teach students to be selective about its use. In other words, to only use a calculator when it is more efficient to do so rather than use a mental or written strategy. In fact, students are becoming significantly better at using mental strategies and can perform these more effectively than most adults can perform their rote-learned paper and pencil approaches. Western Australian students’ performances in international testing programs support this.

The second issue is that of the introduction of CAS technology in the senior school courses, including their use in the examinations for university entry. The prime value of the new technology is its ability to help develop student understanding of quite complex and abstract concepts. This particular technology is only being required for those students who are studying a university entry course. This is approximately half of our students. The introduction of technology use in senior school over the last 20 years has seen a gradual increase in the difficulty level of the mathematics taught in schools so that students leave school now with an understanding of concepts that were previously part of first and second year university mathematics studies. The inclusion of technology to reduce the time spent on routine procedures has enabled our examinations to assess diverse applications of the concepts, which is the only true way to assess the difference between a student who has mastered a procedure and one who understands the underlying concepts. The introduction of this technology is intended to reflect the 'real world' where technology use is prolific (and growing) and part of our everyday working and personal lives. As educators we would be negligent if we ignored this aspect in teaching and only prepared students for an artificial world which required knowledge of rote-learned written algorithms such as long division.

Michelle

Michelle Östberg
President