Observing student working styles when using graphic calculators to solve mathematics problems

摘要

Some research studies, many of which used quantitative methods, have suggested that graphics calculators can be used to effectively enhance the learning of mathematics. More recently research studies have started to explore students' styles of working as they solve problems with technology. This paper describes the use of a software application that records the keystrokes made by students as they use calculators, in order to enable researchers to gain better insights into students' working styles. The recordings obtained from this software can be replayed to observe how students have actually used their calculator in tackling a problem. The paper describes three pilot studies from quite different contexts, in which the software reveals how the calculators have been used by the students. In all of these studies the software provides insights into the working that would have been very difficult to obtain without the record of the keystrokes provided by the software.