I am not a maths teacher but I know that visual images like this (here) enhance the teaching of the subject. They certainly beat the textbook.

I know that many secondary school students use YouTube to tutor them on particular mathematical problems and that some of the videos they watch, they recommend to their friends.

The Engineers Ireland Report on Education of Mathematics and Science at Second Level was published this week (click here).

It is unfortunate that their recommendation on banning calculators at Primary and Junior Cycle Levels got such attention in the media with some of the positive proposals for the use of ICT being ignored. The report recommends that ICT projects which utilise hands-on and technology-enhanced learning, e.g. animation, to augment the teaching of Mathematics concepts to pupils form part of the curriculum (p.49).

This report was published in a week when the NCTE’s handbook for Planning and Implementing e-Learning in your School and Craig Barrett’s presentation on a smart economy has much to say about teachers and education. Barrett said of teachers, “You teach by rote and don’t take advantage of interdisciplinary skills, like critical thinking.

I am not convinced though that much will quickly change, unless we change the system of assessment.

Engineers Ireland are firm on this and it is a recommendation in the Minister of Education and Science’s (2008) ICT strategy group that …students must be encouraged to use technology in a multi-faceted way, to research and reinforce their subjects, to present their knowledge through multimedia presentations and digital video and, finally, to submit personal project work for official assessment as part of state examinations (2008 my emphasis).

Department of Education and Science. 2008. Investing Effectively in Information and Technology in Schools 2008-2013. Dublin: Department of Education and Science.

Engineers Ireland. (2010). Report of Taskforce on Education of Mathematics and Science at Second Level. Dublin: Engineers Ireland.