City University of New York
This  quasi-experimental study compared the achievement of students, enrolled in an integrated algebra course, taught with two different types of handhelds over a period of one year. One group was taught with TI-Nspire handhelds and was compared with another group taught with TI-84 graphing calculators. The teachers of both groups received on-going professional development. Student achievement was measured via a midyear school test, fall and spring semester grades, and New York State Regents exam scores. Results indicated that the group taught with TI-Nspire outperformed the other group in all assessments except the Regents exam. Further, analysis of scores indicated that girls outperformed boys in all assessments except the Regents exam, while there were no differences in achievement by race.

Reference: (Lyublinskaya and Tournaki 2009; Lyublinskaya and Tournaki 2010; Lyublinskaya and Tournaki 2010)

University of Washington
In a small-scale controlled experiment with random assignment, researchers found:

• all participants showed a positive gain in knowledge, both in procedural and, more importantly, in conceptually connected knowledge; 
  
• participants who had access to the TI-Nspire graphing calculator learned with understanding and appeared to be better able to draw inferences that connected inert knowledge with observed and grounded phenomena; and, 
  
• low-achieving participants who had access to TI-Nspire graphing calculators seemed to show the highest gains.
  
• Researchers also observed that students easily and quickly learned to use TI-Nspire in data modeling, and showed evidence of high engagement and collaborative learning.

Institute for Mathematics, University of Friburg

Preliminary qualitative analysis of lessons in beginning Algebra taught with TI-Nspire CAS concluded that:

• Pupils who have CAS are more motivated to use algebraic representations, especially when working with applied problems;
  
• Tasks which are related to the use of CAS differ from paper and pencil tasks, and the work becomes more diversified
  
• Motivation to develop syntactical skills is supported by the use of CAS
  
• Pupils of the CAS group more often had the confidence to build long expressions and equations related to applied problems
  
• Pupils by themselves often use their favorite representation mode if it is meaningful for a mathematical task.  Thus it is important for pupils to be familiar with the many representation modes available in TI-Nspire CAS

Research Institute on Mathematical Education (IREM), National Institute on Education Research (INRP)
University of Lyon
A qualitative case study in France of six 10th second grade classes using TI-Nspire^TM handhelds with Computer Algebra System (CAS) found that:

• Teachers in the project developed an effective model for pedagogical resource in the TI-Nspire environment, including a .TNS file in combination with a unit-based pupil worksheet, a teacher sheet and a scenario for use, explaining the possible use of ICT.
• The document structure served as a local temporary record of the activities being performed in class, thus supporting teaching, assessment and research
• Collaboration was essential to develop learning progressions and learning activities, by adapting the shared resources.
• Collaboration is supported by an online shared workspace for teachers.

Using one such learning activity in geometry:

• Pupils were observed to become engaged in the assignment and remained engaged for the full two hours of the session
• Cognitive complexity of the same learning activity had been underestimated by its designers
• Pupils did not spontaneously examine different approaches to the problem, but required the teacher to highlight relationships

Student opinion surveys showed:

• Over 96% of students had a computer at home, and 75% used it daily, and amongst the small part of pupils knowing dynamical geometry, most had experience with cabri. But they still cited as advantageous the extreme portability and dynamic applications of TI-Nspire.
• Regular in-class use of TI-Nspire facilitated ease in mastering the tool, and difficulties of use were rapidly overcome.
• As the year progressed, the calculator was seen more as a tool available in the class
• As the year progressed, student emphasis was far more on the possibilities for symbolic calculation and new potentials for problem solving, rather than the features of the device.

Brooklyn College-CUNY
A pilot project using a case study methodology introducing TI-Nspire technology to 20 pre-service candidate teachers at 3 universities found:

• Candidates whose field placement was in a school where technology was used extensively developed a positive attitude to technology.
  
• Candidates with positive technology-oriented experiences in the field express stronger desires to incorporate technology into their own teaching. 
  
• Pre-service experiences in the classroom primed candidates for the possibilities of technology, but it takes the experiencing of exemplary practice to convince them of the benefits of working to incorporate technology in their own teaching.
  
• Lesson plans using TI-Nspire technology written by those candidates with field placements in technology-rich environments showed more sophistication, not just in the use of technology, but in terms of implementing inquiry-based and open-ended instructional approaches.

Center for Technology in Learning, SRI International
Research on teachers’ use of TI-Nspire technology in mathematics and science classrooms shows that the unique capabilities of this new generation of handheld device help teachers engage learners in exploration, focus on conceptual understanding, and deepen learners’ work with mathematical and scientific models. In addition, research suggests that forthcoming integration of the TI-Nspire Navigator System will further enhance classroom collaboration and formative assessment.

Reference: (Center for Technology in Learning 2008)
Research Note #13

University of Turin
Longitudinal analysis was conducted of a grade 9-10, and a grade 12-13 Italian classroom in one school, using TI-Nspire CAS, using a descriptive observation and video analysis methodology.

Reference: (Arzarello 2009)

Florida State University
A case study introducing TI-Nspire to 35 pre-service math teachers in 2 cohorts found that:

• The new technology served as a tool or stimulator in fostering pedagogical reflection among the participants.
• The new technology stimulated among the participants a willingness to learn on their own and with their students.
• Participants’ beliefs and prior experience played an important role in their justification of their proposed ways of teaching and assessment.
• Participants experienced tension between traditional curricular materials (e.g., the textbook) and the need to recreate their instructional tasks.
• The new technology can at times lead to conflicts between participants’ traditional view of mathematics teaching and their awareness of innovative alternatives.

City University of New York
A case study of a year-long intervention with 5 NY integrated algebra teachers in a New York City Title I school (with a low-income student population) found that:

• In the experimental group using TI-Nspire, while the changes in the lower level classes were insignificant, the achievement changes in the upper level classes were significant. These results could be attributed to the effect of integrating TI-Nspire into the integrated algebra classes, and are more remarkable because pre- and post-test were only separated by 2 months.
  
• Fall vs. Spring semester grades significantly decreased in both groups, however,  the decrease in grades was much more dramatic in control group.
  
• When teachers create their own materials, they felt more comfortable in the classroom teaching it to the students
  
• Students most often used the calculator application and showed highest proficiency level in this application.
  
• Students’ proficiency with TI-Nspire technology is independent from students’ demographics, and did not vary across classes.
  
• Except for the fact that experimental group performed better than control group, there was no clear relationship between students’ performance in mathematics and their attitudes towards TI-Nspire or proficiency in using TI-Nspire.

George Mason University
In an action research study by one teacher, using TI-Nspire CAS had a positive effect on her students understanding of solving equations, using parentheses, and understanding equivalent operations

Reference: (Gantz 2008)
Reference: (Bu 2010)

University of Chichester
A year-long study introduced TI-Nspire with professional development to 14 KS 3-4 teachers in seven UK 11-16 secondary schools.  The qualitative study reported many examples of how teachers used TI-Nspire with the goal of enhancing students' mathematical understanding.

There was a strong evidence that  TI-Nspire: 

• Supports the trajectory of the teachers towards selecting and/or designing more exploratory activities to use in classrooms. Teachers evaluated the use of TI-Nspire in these lessons lesson very positively with respect to their students learning outcomes.
• Helps teachers increase opportunities for students to engage in purposeful plenary activities in which the students shared outcomes and approaches. 
  
• Provides immediate, non-judgemental feedback  to students
• Increases opportunities for students to follow their own lines of mathematical enquiry.
  
• Students accessing mathematical content that was above the teachers' age-related expectations.

The importance of intention and order: teaching for conceptual understanding using handheld technology
A small randomized experiment in Algebra concluded that when teaching the topic of writing equations for direct variations (and possibly even all linear equations):

•  
• initially teaching the topic conceptually is likely to result in significantly better student learning than only teaching procedures. 
  
• when teaching procedurally then conceptually, conceptual instruction was able to make up for some, but not all, of the students' learning deficits after procedural only instruction. 
  
• procedural only instruction was not only likely to be less effective, but could also undo the learning of some students if provided after conceptual instruction.

University of Aberdeen
In a qualitative study of how teachers incorporated TI-Nspire into Scotland’s Curriculum for Excellence, lessons observed by the researcher found that attention was focused on the use of dynamically linked multiple representations and the associated issues of classroom practice, teaching methodology and student engagement. The main points which arose were:
• emphasis on linking representations and the impact of change in one of these
• use of investigative approaches
• work being tackled significantly earlier than would normally be expected
• high level of questioning and teacher-student and student-student discussion
• high level of enthusiasm, enjoyment and interest displayed by students
• variety of approaches to help students gain mastery of the handhelds such as ‘lock-step’ teaching, use of worksheet, use of animated PowerPoint slides
• issues relating to management of the technology
• new approaches to the teaching of statistics
In 80% of the 66 lesson evaluations received, the teachers concluded that the use of multiple representation with TI-Nspire enhances students’ relational understanding of the mathematics involved and they were willing to provide extensive evidence to support their argument. Only 3% contained a negative response.

University of Florida
Students in the TI-Nspire group tended to use more graphical representations. This study provides preliminary evidence that technology-enhanced instruction can influence students’ use of multiple representations while solving mathematical word problems.

Reference: (Bostic and Pape 2008)

Oregon State University

Michigan State University

The Math Nspired series of curriculum supplements currently include Algebra Nspired and Geometry Nspired. The supplements grew from research on the “tough to teach/tough to learn” topics, which our item analysis of state tests showed yo be common points of difficulty for many students. To determine the underlying reasons for the difficulty, we consulted the research on the reasons why students struggle with key concepts in Algebra and Geometry. We found that the source of difficulty is mathematical tasks with high cognitive demand, which use schematic and strategic knowledge of math. We concluded that the need is for learning activities which engage students in high cognitive demand mathematical tasks that require schematic and strategic knowledge of math. Each activity features:
• An important topic in the curriculum
• Tasks of high cognitive demand
• A technology-based exploration linking mathematical actions and consequences
• Questions to stimulate reflection and sense-making
The activities are carefully designed to have high mathematical fidelity, high cognitive fidelity, and high pedagogical fidelity.

Reference: (Dick and Burrill 2009)

SRI, Inc., Menlo Park, CA
An interpretive review of the research basis of TI-Nspire technology concluded:

• Teachers can draw insights from a rich literature substantiating effective use of graphing calculators and formative assessment in mathematics and science classrooms.
• Using the new document model and networking features of TI-Nspire technology (with the TI-Navigator system), teachers can develop classroom practices that increase the time students spend doing mathematics in an environment with the ingredients for success: increased support for mastering difficult concepts and skills; high student participation; tools for reflective practice.

SRI, Inc., Menlo Park, CA

An interpretive review of the research basis of TI-Nspire technology concluded:

• The research principle of multiple representations has guided evolution of TI graphing calculators, and is implemented most completely in the TI-Nspire handheld.
• Linked multiple representation has been shown to be crucial in development of conceptual understanding. It is feasible only through use of a technology such as TI-Nspire, which provides simultaneous, dynamically linked representations of graphs, equations, data, and verbal explanations, such that a change in one representation is immediately reflected in the others.
• TI-Nspire technology has enhanced representation and communication of important mathematical concepts, principles and high-level problem-solving strategies.

SRI, Inc., Menlo Park, CA
An interpretive review of the research:

• Dynamically linked multiple representations, when used in well-designed learning activities, will help students manage cognitive load and engage in reasoning at the level of which they are developmentally capable.
• This, in turn, allows students to engage in high-level reasoning and problem-solving, rather than being forced to concentrate on low-level computation.

SRI, Inc., Menlo Park, CA

An interpretive review of the research basis of TI-Nspire technology concluded that potential effects of using TI-Nspire documents include:

• Enhancing Reflection. Students learn more when they can reflect on their work at a later time and take steps to improve it.
• Enabling Formative Assessment. By reviewing saved work with students, teachers can monitor student understanding and adjust instruction accordingly.
• Increasing Academic Learning Time. By saving their work and continuing it at home, in another class session, or in a study group, students can spend more time working on academic learning tasks.

Teachers can also give students problems which are half completed, and then ask them questions such as:

• "Why did the person do that?"
• "Why do you think the solution is right or wrong?"
• "What would you do next?"
• "What do you think is going to happen next, when you run the equation against that data and generate a graph?"

Oregon State University / Michigan State University
The Math Nspired curriculum supplements grew from research on the “tough to teach/tough to learn” topics, which our item analysis of state tests showed to be common points of difficulty for many students.  We found that the source of difficulty is mathematical tasks with high cognitive demand, which use schematic and strategic knowledge of math.  We concluded that the need is for learning activities which teach high cognitive demand mathematical tasks using schematic and strategic knowledge of math.
At the heart of every Math Nspired learning activity is a special kind of document for TI-Nspire which is designed to get students to the math faster, by placing them in exploratory “microworlds” where they can easily and intuitively take mathematical actions on high-fidelity mathematical objects, observe the mathematical consequences of their actions, and then reflect on what they do. 

Reference: (Dick and Burrill 2009)