Week 8 Response

Let me begin with a disclosure: due to midterm preparations, I haven't read all that I should have. However, I plan to forge ahead, and make a few comments, at least, on Andee Rubin's paper for today's class. Rubin argues for taking a close look at current (though I see this paper is from '99) school environments before implementing learning technologies for math. He also begins with curriculum standards as a jumping off point for a discussion on a handful of effective math computer programs in use in schools. What I liked most about Rubin's discussion was its acknowledgement of the importance of situating math instruction with technology in a social context -- recognizing that real people will be using the technology in real environments, which can throw a lot of variables into the mix. This also has an element of situated cognition to it. That is, Rubin points out that teaching students math by using a program such as Fathom allows students to experience and learn from "tools that are actually used by statisticians" (Rubin, 1999, p. 7). Another observation that struck me was that the Web can provide an audience and a community for students doing math (Rubin, 1999, p.9). I like this idea because there is potential to connect an individual student's experience with math to a larger community (a community of practice?) of people who use math - real mathemeticians, or other students exploring similar concepts.