Technology is being appreciated by everyone because of its important functions to make the humans life more comfortable. People use technology for easy Transportation, Communication, and also for Education. When the word education is mentioned the teaching and learning process also involves. If the teaching and learning process is talking about, the subject matter will not be ignored. The important subject that the students should focus in is Mathematics. It is one of the core subjects in K-12 Education Curriculum. Learning Mathematics is very important because of its application to real life situations. For an instance, to know how much the interest of the money is owed, the learning of Simple and Compound Interest is necessary. To know how far the church from the market is, the knowledge about Measurement which is also a part of Mathematics is also important. For these reasons the importance of learning Math is inevitable.
Many students hate Mathematics Subject and some of the causes are the Teachers poor teaching strategies and their failures to arouse students’ interest on the subject. Hence, to improve the teaching and learning Mathematics the aid of technology is use. In Mathematics teaching process, the teacher should use a variety of teaching strategies wherein technology can be useful to transfer the learning successfully. Mathematics teacher can use Power Point Presentation, Videotapes, Software applications, and other types of technology that can help to arouse the students’ interest in the classroom discussion and so in learning Mathematics. The use of technology gives a great advantage for the teacher and that is to arouse the students’ interest in learning and to help them realize that Math is not the one that they should be afraid of because Math is Fun.
The use of technology in learning process is more on the part of the learner. Even if the teacher is the best and uses different teaching strategies that suitable for the learners and subject matter, but if the students are not motivated to learn then Learning will not takes place since learning is activated by the learner. This is also the reason why self-motivated learners are more successful than others. If in teaching process the technology uses as a tool to transfer effectively the knowledge, this time in learning process the technology will serve as a tutor for the learners. Students nowadays are more expose in modern technologies. So why don’t use these technologies for learning.
Some of the students especially the shy-type learners are afraid to ask questions to the teacher if they don’t understand the topic. What is best to do is to discoverthe answer to their questions independently and that is through the aid of Computer Technology. Searching to Google and watching You Tube Tutorials regarding the topic may be helpful. It can also be used for advance studies of the students so that they can participate during the classroom discussion. There are also Games and other Software Applications towards Mathematics that can be used to practice Arithmetic Skills and Problem Solving Skills of the students. Thus, students are enjoying what they doing while practicing their Mathematics skills and abilities. If the students effectively use technology to acquire knowledge and skills in Math they will be motivated to learn more and will be able to discover that Mathematics is fun and not as a torture subject, and eventually love learning the subject.
Making use of technology in a variety of Mathematics Teaching Strategies is a great help to make the teaching and learning process successful. On the other hand, don’t forget that too much dependency on technologies is also bad. There are also disadvantages in the use of technology if not use in a proper way. Bad effect might be Health Problems, because computer has a radiation and too much exposure to it is harmful. Another thing is that because of the instant answer people may get from the internet the tendency is that they forget to use their mind to think and to find answers on their own questions or to solve simple problems on their own because they can easily find solutions in the internet. Because of dependency on technologies, people become less self-reliant. According to Albert Einstein “Any man who reads too much and uses his own brain too little falls into lazy habits of thinking”. So be careful of using too much of technology because no one wants to have a rusty mind and frailty body.
By: Ruby L. Factao
