There are many different ideas about how technology should be used in today's math classroom. Some believe that students will not learn as much if they use technology such as computers and calculators. There are still others who believe that this technology can benefit students if used correctly. After reading many articles on the use of technology in the mathematics classroom, I have to agree with the NCTM Technology Principle, which states that "technology is essential in the teaching and learning of mathematics ". ; it influences the mathematics taught and enhances student learning” (Principles 24). What the technology principle does not say, and which some might interpret, is that students will not have to learn to solve problems on their own. In my opinion, the principle tells us exactly the opposite. We all know, as future teachers and current students, that we need to understand applications and why we are doing them to truly understand mathematics. In other words, we cannot simply memorize the application steps and plug them into our calculator, but rather we must understand why the steps were performed and what our results mean. Once students have shown that they understand the materials and applications, the teacher can allow their students to use the calculator once the applications have become tedious for the students. For example, if we asked a group of calculus students to find the maximum of a line, we would not expect them to trace the function by hand and try to guess where the point is; Instead, we would encourage them to use their calculator to find the best estimate of the point. So even in cases like this, technology can be used to further demonstrate the reasoning behind a problem. We may want our students to work on the application, and it may also be that we want our students to be able to see why they are doing the application. The only thing we really need to be careful about is not letting technology replace “basic understandings and intuitions” (Principles 25). Technology can be a great tool for teaching mathematics because we can show and manipulate visual shapes with programs such as Surveyor's Sketchbook and many others. . Programs like these help students visualize problems and can also help teachers better explain math concepts. One of the questions we often hear in mathematics is “why?” » I even remember teachers having difficulty answering these questions with their crude drawings on the board or their wordy explanations...