Computer education for secondary school mathematics teachers

This paper discusses the role of computer education in the training of high school mathematics teachers, including rationale, motivation, suggested topics and their implementation in the college classroom. The rationale has to do mainly with a general updating of training programs to reflect the increasingly technological nature of our world. The emergence of the computer now makes possible new approaches to the subject matter which can provide the student with added insights as to the nature of mathematics and his own abilities to deal with it.

The computer education component of the teacher-training program has three broad divisions: (1) general orientation to computers, and basic skills in programming, (2) study of computer applications to problems in mathematics, (3) consideration of influence of the computer on secondary school mathematics education (curriculum, instruction, administrative practice, etc.). These three areas are delt with in three separate courses at the University of Illinois, which are described.