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Teachers’ Initial Orchestration of Students’ Dynamic Geometry Software Use: Consequences for Students’ Opportunities to Learn Mathematics

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Abstract

This paper reports from a case study with teachers at two schools in Norway participating in developmental projects aiming for inquiry communities in mathematics teaching and learning. In the reported case study, the teachers participated in one of the developmental projects focusing on implementation and use of computer software in mathematics teaching. I study teachers’ initial orchestration of dynamic geometry software (DGS) in mathematics teaching at lower secondary school. By utilising the notion of ‘instrumental orchestration’ from the theoretical perspective known as the ‘instrumental approach’ (Drijvers et al., in Educ Stud Math 75:213–234, 2010; Trouche, in Int J Comput Math Learn 9:281–307, 2004), I examine how teachers in their initial teaching with DGS empower students’ mathematics learning with the DGS software. According to this perspective, it involves teachers’ orchestration of two interrelated processes instrumentation and instrumentalisation. Analytical findings indicate that a difference in teachers’ empowerment is evident and consequences for students’ opportunities to engage with mathematics represented by the DGS are presented.

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Notes

  1. Didacticians in the projects are mathematics teacher educators and researchers.

  2. The Learning Communities in Mathematics (LCM) project was supported by the Norwegian Research Council (NFR no. 157949/S20). Seven schools with mathematics teachers participated (Grades 1–13) from 2004–2007.

  3. The ICT and Mathematics Learning (ICTML) project was supported by the Norwegian Research Council (NFR no. 161955/S20). Four schools with mathematics teachers participated (Grades 8–10) from 2004–2007.

  4. The Teaching Better Mathematics (TBM) project was supported by the Norwegian Research Council (NFR no. 176442/S20) and is managed by didacticians at UiA from 2007–2010. Nine schools (Grades 1–13) and four kindergartens (Years 1–6) participated from 2007–2010.

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Acknowledgments

I am very grateful to Barbara Jaworski, Anne Berit Fuglestad, David Green, my reviewers and the Editors for extremely helpful comments on earlier drafts of this paper. Thanks also to the mathematics teachers and the students with whom I collaborated in order to make this study possible.

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  1. University of Agder (UiA), Kristiansand, Norway

    Ingvald Erfjord

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Correspondence to Ingvald Erfjord.

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Erfjord, I. Teachers’ Initial Orchestration of Students’ Dynamic Geometry Software Use: Consequences for Students’ Opportunities to Learn Mathematics. Tech Know Learn 16, 35–54 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10758-011-9176-z

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