Step into Jo Ann Colletto's Algebra 2 class at Abington Senior High School and this is the scene:

Colletto calls on her class to simplify an equation, then to pick one of four multiple-choice answers on their work sheets.

But instead of turning in paperwork, the students use handheld calculators to transmit their responses: A, B, C, or D.

The classroom has wireless computer technology, and as the answers come in, they are tallied and displayed for everyone to see, in the form of a bar chart, on the interactive whiteboard screen at the front of the room.

When all students come up with the correct answer, just one long bar materializes on the screen, and Colletto can move on to the next problem.

But this morning, multiple bars emerge, and Colletto sees at a glance that she must take time to review with her students the math they need to know to solve the problem.

This is the brave new world of math-education technology, and Abington Senior High is among many schools in the region seizing the initiative.

Two components of the district's math program were apparent during a visit: 20 or fewer students per class, and the wide use of graphing calculators and interactive whiteboards.

The equipment was acquired through a grant from Classrooms for the Future, a state program, just ended, that has poured $194 million into technology and training for teachers in Pennsylvania secondary schools over the last three years.

The new techniques, plus more individualized instruction and greater aspirations, have had an effect at Abington.

Four years ago, just 16 students signed up for a single demanding Advanced Placement statistics course. Last year, 82 students filled four sections. This fall, 138 students are enrolled in six sections of AP statistics.

Teachers have been trained to teach students of different abilities and learning styles, and the district adds layers of interventions to help students stay on course.

For instance, a computer program called Study Island - in wide use across the region, including Philadelphia - identifies a student's strengths and weaknesses and then offers test preps and extra practice to build math skills. Another, Compass Learning, delivers computer-based, computer-managed instruction to individual students.

The technology that reaches the most students, however, is in the classroom.

With complex equations, why not use sophisticated technology? asked James Rizzuto, head of Abington's math department.

"It's not just about getting the correct answer. It's about understanding the concepts. That is what is important, not so much the nitty-gritty" of problem-solving, he said.

In a geometry classroom on a recent day, all students were using software to construct a triangle on their desktop computer screens, and most were quick to calculate its area. But students who needed extra help would get it, said Ann Bacon, the district's curriculum director, either from the classroom teacher, with additional math tutoring, or through the use of adaptive-learning software.

Amanda Thornhill, 16, a sophomore, breezed through a geometry problem, using a piece of software called The Geometer's Sketchpad to calculate the area of the triangle on the computer screen in front of her.

"I got it!" she announced.

For reinforcement, she could glance to the front of the class, where teacher Kristy Heyser's example was on display on the classroom whiteboard.

Thornhill was somewhat blase about the Sketchpad, something she is learning to use. "It's pretty easy," she said. "And it's neater, more organized than using pen and paper."

Sketchpad, incidentally, was developed in the 1980s at Swarthmore College in a project funded by the National Science Foundation to develop technology-based materials for use in teaching geometry.

Heyser is enthusiastic about the technology, saying: "It creates a different activity. Students can see the concepts in a different way."

And they are seeing math itself in a different way, too.

Said sophomore Jasmine Ellerbee: "I want to be an artist, and that has a lot to do with math."

Contact Connie Langland at mslangland@aol.com.