Any technology retains a degree of fluidity in its conception, shaped not just by its designers but by its subsequent users. This chapter applies this perspective to one form of software which has attracted particular attention in mathematics teaching: dynamic geometry. Drawing on a study conducted in professionally well-regarded mathematics departments in English secondary schools, the chapter sketches the wider curricular context, provides an overview of each of three contrasting cases of teaching practices making use of dynamic geometry, and presents cross-cutting themes through which these contrasts can be characterized. Critical variables include the degree to which teachers see student use of the software as promoting mathematically-disciplined interaction, analysis of apparent mathematical anomalies as supporting learning, and dragging as a means of focusing attention on continuous variation. The chapter concludes by discussing how teaching practices might productively be developed, and how such development might be supported by further research.
The objective of this study was to understand what mathematics teachers at the lower-secondary level in England regarded as a successful use of dynamic geometry. To address this objective, multiple case-study designs were chosen, employing methods which aimed at characterizing teachers? thinking and practice, first in their own terms, and then in terms of broader constructs informed by the research literature. The cases which I discuss here were identified through a process intended to elicit professionally well-regarded practice in using digital tools in mathematics teaching. Relatively few schools nominated on this basis reported making use of dynamic geometry: cases were then chosen for further study so as to capture the range of approaches reported and to follow up teachers who had been particularly informative. Data portfolios for each case were assembled through a procedure involving classroom observation followed up by teacher interviews, including the copying of associated curricular resources. These portfolios were analyzed thematically in two stages. The first stage of analysis was within-case, adopting an emic approach intended to capture and distill into a case narrative the terms in which the teacher responsible characterized and explained the case and offered a supporting rationale for it. The second stage was cross-case, adopting an etic approach, taking a researcher perspective informed by relevant literature, and aimed at identifying important commonalities and contrasts across cases. Full details of the design of the study and methods employed can be found in the original report (Ruthven et al. 2008). Equally, the individual case narratives and the cross-case analysis are reported there in full.
" />Any technology retains a degree of fluidity in its conception, shaped not just by its designers but by its subsequent users. This chapter applies this perspective to one form of software which has attracted particular attention in mathematics teaching: dynamic geometry. Drawing on a study conducted in professionally well-regarded mathematics departments in English secondary schools, the chapter sketches the wider curricular context, provides an overview of each of three contrasting cases of teaching practices making use of dynamic geometry, and presents cross-cutting themes through which these contrasts can be characterized. Critical variables include the degree to which teachers see student use of the software as promoting mathematically-disciplined interaction, analysis of apparent mathematical anomalies as supporting learning, and dragging as a means of focusing attention on continuous variation. The chapter concludes by discussing how teaching practices might productively be developed, and how such development might be supported by further research.
The objective of this study was to understand what mathematics teachers at the lower-secondary level in England regarded as a successful use of dynamic geometry. To address this objective, multiple case-study designs were chosen, employing methods which aimed at characterizing teachers? thinking and practice, first in their own terms, and then in terms of broader constructs informed by the research literature. The cases which I discuss here were identified through a process intended to elicit professionally well-regarded practice in using digital tools in mathematics teaching. Relatively few schools nominated on this basis reported making use of dynamic geometry: cases were then chosen for further study so as to capture the range of approaches reported and to follow up teachers who had been particularly informative. Data portfolios for each case were assembled through a procedure involving classroom observation followed up by teacher interviews, including the copying of associated curricular resources. These portfolios were analyzed thematically in two stages. The first stage of analysis was within-case, adopting an emic approach intended to capture and distill into a case narrative the terms in which the teacher responsible characterized and explained the case and offered a supporting rationale for it. The second stage was cross-case, adopting an etic approach, taking a researcher perspective informed by relevant literature, and aimed at identifying important commonalities and contrasts across cases. Full details of the design of the study and methods employed can be found in the original report (Ruthven et al. 2008). Equally, the individual case narratives and the cross-case analysis are reported there in full.
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