A Case Study Investigating the Effects of Technology on Visual and Nonvisual Thinking Preferences in Mathematics
Sirin (Coskun) Budak and George Roy
The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of technology on one student’s solution methods when solving mathematical tasks that included algebra word problems. The student was presented with context tasks in both paper-pencil and computer environments. The results of this study revealed that the student’s solution methods differed in the two environments. Even though the student had a strong preference for a non-visual solution in the paper-pencil environment, she used both visual and non-visual methods in the computer environment. One reason for this shift in her solution methods was the ease of accessibility to both solution methods in the computer environment.
Keywords: Technology in mathematics, visual and non-visual solutions, thinking preferences, word problems