How has technology created a need for students to gain a solid grounding in algebra?
I started thinking about this back in the 1950s when I was exploring the possibility of doing graduate work at Harvard. At that time, computer technology was still very new. Clearly, we didn’t know how that technology would change our lives. Then, in 1976, my wife and I returned to the United States after teaching math at a secondary school in Tanzania—and Apple released its desktop and personal computers. Suddenly, computers became a tool for the masses. I started to wonder what this technology might mean for our schools and society. It became clear to me that there would be an enormous shift in how we use technology. Instead of using these tools to help us mechanize physical work, we would use them to help us organize mental thought. It also became clear to me that schools were by-products of the older technology and that we needed some radical changes to accommodate this new technology and new way of thinking. Truly understanding this new technology requires a new literacy. Computer
