High-Leverage Apps for the Mathematics Classroom: WolframAlpha
Today's students have grown up with digital technology, a fact that has fundamentally changed the way they think and process information (Prensky 2001). To reach our students, we need to accommodate this change and learn to use technology in mathematically powerful ways. The Internet gives students access to vast amounts of data. As teachers, we share in the responsibility to help our students learn to make sense of this information. One resource for teachers is WolframAlpha®, a computational knowledge engine that provides computed answers to queries. This article aims to describe how WolframAlpha can be used to support classroom practice and students' technological literacy.
Notes
Edited by Andrew Benzing Technology Tips offers a forum for innovative uses of technology in the teaching and learning of mathematics; it appears in every issue of Mathematics Teacher. Manuscripts for the department should be submitted via http://mt.msubmit.net. For more background information on the department and guidelines for submission, visit http://www.nctm.org/mtcalls.
Department editors Andrew Benzing, abenzing@wssd.org, Strath Haven High School, Wallingford, PA; Heather Lynn Johnson, heather.johnson@ucdenver.edu, University of Colorado Denver; and Steve Phelps, sphelps@madeiracityschools.org, Madeira High School, Cincinnati, OH
Contributor Notes
EMILY P. THRASHER, epthrash@ncsu.edu, is a doctoral candidate in mathematics education at North Carolina State University in Raleigh.
