Implementation of Technology to Enhance Middle School Student Understanding of Quadratic Relationships

In order to ascertain whether timing and placement of technology within a mathematics unit had any effect on student thinking and understanding, two sets of students were observed during a unit on quadratic relationships. The first group was given instruction in a traditional foundation of quadratics and subsequently incorporated the use of graphing calculators into their knowledge base. The second group learned how to use the calculators for exploring quadratics first and then was taught the theoretical foundation to solidify understanding. It was found that the timing and placement of the introduction of graphing calculators into the unit did impact student understanding. The group who learned a theoretical framework prior to using the technology thrived, while the other group struggled