Integration of technology into the classroom : the movement from demon to creative friend

![CDATA[The burden of facilitating the process of changing information into knowledge for secondary school students usually falls upon the teacher. In the current climate, there is considerable pressure to integrate ICTs into the curriculum as they are claimed to enhance the quality of education. However, integration can be classified under five broad categories. Teachers tend to view ICT as either: a demon; a servant; an idol; a partner; or as a liberator. Among the many components classified under lCT, graphics calculators (GCs) have gained widespread acceptance in secondary school mathematics classrooms. It is claimed that handheld technologies in mathematics classrooms can become a vehicle to equip students with the skills needed in an emerging knowledge society, by engaging them in active, meaningful, collaborative learning, that stimulates their creativity and encourages them to solve problems and to think critically. Together with mathematical modelling it can take learning beyond the walls of the classroom and into the daily lives of students. It has been claimed they can act as a pedagogical Trojan horse. For as teachers and students gain in confidence and experience, the pedagogical practices change. Some teachers move from regarding hand-held technology as a demon or servant to regarding it as a partner, and in some cases a liberator.]]