The role of resources and technology in mathematics education. Editorial

Technology has long been a theme open for debate within the mathematics education community and has been reflected in the work of ICMI even prior to the first ICME (Lyon, 1969). More recently, information and communication technology (ICT) has played an increasing role in the events organized by ICMI. Debates around ICT have brought to light the fact that other resources and technologies have been introduced over the last 100 years. On the occasion of the 100th anniversary of ICMI a Symposium was held in Rome to celebrate the event . In that Symposium a Working Group was devoted to the issue of resources and technology throughout the history of ICMI ((e.g. paper and pencil, memorisation and calculators, Dienes blocks, mathematical machines, computers, software and digital learning objects etc.). More than twenty researchers from all over the world took part in this WG, carrying their personal experience and informed reviews of the ICMI related literature in this field. In this special issue we have collected several research papers that emphasize, on the one hand, the historical roots of the experimental approach drawing on resources and technologies and on the other hand show the effectiveness of it in mathematics education. In other words, we present an international review of the theme Resources and technology throughout the history of ICMI as an historical base, on the one hand, and as a prompt towards future development, on the other hand. The authors come from all the continents and have expertise on the didactical use of both classical and information and communication technologies.