From Blackboard-centred Instruction to Interactive Platforms: A Critical Narrative Review of Methodological Transformation in Mathematics Teaching in the Digital Age
Digital technologies have altered the material conditions of mathematics teaching, but the extent to which they have transformed pedagogy is more contested than the spread of devices and platforms implies. This critical narrative review examines the methodological transition from board-centred exposition to dynamic, interactive, blended, adaptive and artificial-intelligence-supported mathematics teaching. The review integrates evidence from mathematics education, educational technology and teacher-learning research, with particular attention to what changes in mathematical activity, classroom interaction, feedback, assessment, learning space and teacher decision-making when digital resources are introduced. Evidence was selected through structured searches of accessible scholarly sources, citation chaining and verification of bibliographic metadata and Digital Object Identifiers, with the main search period extending from 2000 to 14 June 2026 and earlier work retained when conceptually necessary. Across meta-analyses and classroom studies, digital technology is associated with generally positive but heterogeneous effects on achievement. Benefits are strongest when technology performs a clear didactical function, such as supporting multiple representations, conjecture testing, problem solving, communication, adaptive feedback or deliberate redistribution of class time. By contrast, hardware or software adoption can leave instructional methodology largely unchanged, as illustrated by interactive whiteboards used primarily as enlarged presentation surfaces. Teacher knowledge, task design, orchestration, professional learning and alignment between technology and mathematical goals repeatedly moderate outcomes. Blended and flipped designs can increase active class time, yet evidence on durability and transfer remains limited. Intelligent tutoring systems and learning analytics extend adaptive and diagnostic possibilities, while generative artificial intelligence adds flexible explanation and content generation alongside material risks of mathematical error, overreliance and assessment ambiguity. The review concludes that the digital transformation of mathematics teaching is best understood as conditional pedagogical reconfiguration rather than technological substitution. Research now needs longer-term, mechanism-focused and equity-sensitive designs that distinguish the contribution of tools from the contribution of the teaching practices built around them.