Case Studies in Integrating the Interactive Whiteboard into the Secondary School Mathematics Classroom

Abstract

Interactive whiteboards extended the general interactive nature of data projectors. With this merger has come several significant software design issues. Software can be used to demonstrate concepts, to enable complex calculations and even to teach techniques, but the technology with the right software can enable the teacher to do much more than this. Mathematics educational software can both guide secondary school students to a deeper understanding of mathematical structure, and enable students to move away from the "tools and techniques" view of mathematics and start developing mathematical thinking. The computer becomes an experimental instrument whereby ideas can be explored and relationships discovered. For such goals to be fully realised, the teacher and software engineer need to work together in an agile partnership. In this paper we discuss the nature of this partnership and illustrate through actual case studies how the interactive whiteboard can be personalised for the individual teacher so that it becomes an integral part of the teacher's lesson plan. By developing generic software that can be readily personalised for the individual teacher we can greatly increase the take-up of the technology and ensure it is fully and successfully integrated into the mathematics classroom. As the case studies demonstrate, the outcome is an integrated package that can dramatically improve the students' take-up of mathematical concepts and structures and greatly assist the students' ability to think mathematically.