There are many different ideas about how technology should be used in today's mathematics classrooms. There are those who believe that students will not learn much if they use technology such as computers and calculators, and there are still others who believe that this technology can benefit students if used correctly. After reading many articles about the use of technology in mathematics lessons, I agree with NCTM's Technology Principle, which states that "technology is essential in the teaching and learning of mathematics; it influences the mathematics that is taught and improves student learning” (Principles 24). What the Technology Principle does not say and what some may interpret is that students will not have to learn to solve problems on their own. As I see it, the principle tells us just the opposite. We all know, as future teachers and as current students, that we need to understand applications and why we do them to truly understand mathematics, we cannot simply memorize the application steps and connect them to our own calculator, but rather we need to understand why the steps were performed and what our results mean After students demonstrate understanding of the material and applications, the teacher can allow his or her students to use the calculator once the applications. they have become boring 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 graph the function by hand and try to guess where the point is, we would instead encourage them to use the 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. It might be the case that we want our students to work on the application, and then again it might be the case that we want our students to be able to see what they're applying for. The only thing we really need to be careful about is not letting technology replace “basic understandings and insights” (Principles 25). Technology can be a great tool for teaching mathematics because we can show and manipulate visual form with programs like The Geometer's Sketchpad and many others. . Programs like these help students visualize problems and can also help teachers better explain mathematical concepts. One of the questions we often hear in mathematics is “why?” I even remember teachers struggling to answer these questions with their crude drawings on the board or their long-winded explanations.