Number Theory, Dialogue, and the Use of Spreadsheets in Teacher Education
This paper demonstrates the use of a spreadsheet in teaching topics in elementary number theory. It emphasizes both the power and deficiency of inductive reasoning using a number of historically significant examples. The notion of computational experiment as a modern approach to the teaching of mat...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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McMaster University
2011-04-01
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| Series: | Spreadsheets in Education |
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| Online Access: | http://epublications.bond.edu.au/ejsie/vol4/iss3/1 |
| Summary: | This paper demonstrates the use of a spreadsheet in teaching topics in elementary number theory. It emphasizes both the power and deficiency of inductive reasoning using a number of historically significant examples. The notion of computational experiment as a modern approach to the teaching of mathematics is discussed. The paper, grounded in a teacher-student dialogue as an instructional method, is a reflection on the author’s work over the years with prospective teachers of secondary mathematics. |
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| ISSN: | 1448-6156 |