Chapter 12: Keeping the Faith: Fidelity in Technological Tools for Mathematics Education

There are many different audiences that can benefit from the insights that can arise from thoughtful research on the use of technology in the teaching and learning of mathematics. These audiences include classroom mathematics teachers, mathematics curriculum developers, educational policymakers, and the designers of the technological tools. The purpose of this chapter is to consider, from the perspective of the tool designer, the lessons that can be learned from research.

As the title indicates, the theme of this chapter is fidelity—technology designed for use in mathematics education should be faithful to some basic principles. We will refer to these principles as pedagogical fidelity, mathematical fidelity, and cognitive fidelity.