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Potential scenarios for Internet use in the mathematics classroom

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Abstract

Research on the influence of multiple representations in mathematics education gained new momentum when personal computers and software started to become available in the mid-1980s. It became much easier for students who were not fond of algebraic representations to work with concepts such as function using graphs or tables. Research on how students use such software showed that they shaped the tools to their own needs, resulting in an intershaping relationship in which tools shape the way students know at the same time the students shape the tools and influence the design of the next generation of tools. This kind of research led to the theoretical perspective presented in this paper: knowledge is constructed by collectives of humans-with-media. In this paper, I will discuss how media have shaped the notions of problem and knowledge, and a parallel will be developed between the way that software has brought new possibilities to mathematics education and the changes that the Internet may bring to mathematics education. This paper is, therefore, a discussion about the future of mathematics education. Potential scenarios for the future of mathematics education, if the Internet becomes accepted in the classroom, will be discussed.

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Notes

  1. Thinking collective is a term used by Lévy to emphasize that knowledge is produced by collectives composed of human and non-human actors.

  2. Computer Technology, other Media and Mathematics Education Research Group (Sao Paulo State University, Department of Mathematics, Rio Claro, SP, Brazil). http://www.rc.unesp.br/igce/pgem/gpimem.html.

  3. University of Ontario Institute of Technology.

  4. Sao Paulo State University.

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Acknowledgments

The ideas presented in this paper have been developed within GPIMEM, the research group I belong to. I would like to thank the members for their comments and suggestions, in particular Ricardo Scucuglia, Ana Paula Malheiros, Claudio Worle, Maria Helena Herminio, Marcus Maltempi, Orlando Figueiredo, Regina Franchi, and Sandra Barbosa. For the same reason I also would like to thank George Gadanidis and Anne Kepple.

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  1. GPIMEM, Graduate Program in Mathematics Education, Department of Mathematics, Universidade Estadual Paulista “Júlio de Mesquita Filho”, Avenida 24A, 1515 Bela Vista, Rio Claro, SP, Brazil

    Marcelo C. Borba

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Correspondence to Marcelo C. Borba.

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Borba, M.C. Potential scenarios for Internet use in the mathematics classroom. ZDM Mathematics Education 41, 453–465 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11858-009-0188-2

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