ABSTRACT

Does the use of calculators in primary schools restrict a child’s ability to think? Is this just the case in primary education? Should we only grant the use of calculators once learners have become profi cient in mental calculation? Do those raising such questions understand how calculators are really used in schools? These are questions taken up in the next chapter by Kenneth Ruthven, which investigates the debates surrounding the use of digital technologies in the mathematics classroom. The use of calculators is a debate which has been ongoing for some years, but this is now compounded by the availability of a range of digital technologies to maths teachers. Indeed, just how valuable are interactive whiteboards as mathematical and indeed pedagogical tools? As Ken(neth) identifi es, it is not so much a matter of good and bad technologies but rather a question of how they are used.