We examine teachers' classroom activities with the spreadsheet, focusing especially on episodes marked by improvisation and uncertainty. The framework is based on Saxe's cultural approach to cognitive development. The study considers two teachers, one positively disposed towards classroom use of technology, and the other not, both of them…

Analyzes the pedagogical ideas underpinning teachers' accounts of the successful use of computer-based tools and resources to support the teaching and learning of mathematics. Organizes central themes to form a pedagogical model capable of informing the use of such technologies in classroom teaching and generating theoretical conjectures for…

Analyzes student construction of function-based problem solving methods in introductory algebra. Describes longitudinal observation of a pair of students that studied algebra for three years using the function approach including intensive use of graphing technology. Offers terms for describing and explaining what and how do learners appreciate and…

Analyzes the results of a Mexican/British project that used the sociocultural approach to investigate ways in which mathematics is used in the practice of school science and the role of spreadsheets as a mathematical modeling tool. Suggests the possibility of enhancing students' capability to shift between a wider range of representations using…

Presents an analytic framework to describe and analyze students' answers to proof problems. Employs the framework to investigate ways in which dynamic geometry software can be used to improve students' understanding of the nature of mathematical proof and improve their proof skills. (Author/MM)

Reports data from a longitudinal study of 12-year-old students' interpretations of geometrical objects and relationships when using dynamic geometry software. Focuses on the progressive mathematization of the students' sense of the software, examining their interpretations, and using the explanations that students give to the geometrical…

Looks back over a number of exploratory studies that have researched young children's construction of meaning for graphs produced from data entered into spreadsheets. Discusses children's use of normalizing, an activity in which children 'correct' data towards some perceived norm. (Author/MM)

Explores the role of proof in mathematics education and provides justification for its importance in the curriculum. Discusses three applications of dynamic geometry software--heuristics, exploration, and visualization--as tools in the teaching of proof and as potential challenges to the importance of proof. (Author/MM)

Reports on a long-term teaching experiment carried out in the 9th and 10th grades of a scientific high school as part of a larger research project. Aims to clarify the role of a particular software, Cabri Geometry, in the teaching/learning process. Focuses on the social construction of knowledge. (Author/MM)

Examines possibilities for learning offered by a piece of software, Fonctuse, likely to encourage the linking of algebraic and graphical representations of functions. Studied the influence of prior algebraic knowledge on the cognitive processes and constructions of knowledge at play in this environment. (Author/MKR)

Describes the role of an instructional sequence and two accompanying computer-based tools in supporting students' developing understandings of statistical data analysis. Documents the emergence of the sociomathematical norm of what counts as a mathematical argument in the context of data analysis. (Author/MM)

Reports on the design and study of a new computerized environment enabling a variety of metacognitive supports in different phases of the problem-solving process and designed to influence students' metacognition during word problem-solving. Results indicate that learning environments that provide metacognitive support during the solution process…

Describes two activities that led students to contradictions between conjectures and findings. Analyzes the conjectures, working methods, and explanations given by students when faced with the contradictions that arose. (Author/MM)

Investigates the benefits and limitations of using pre-constructed, web-based, dynamic geometry sketches in activities related to deductive proof at the secondary school level. Focuses on the relationship between the design of materials and the exploration process. Draws attention to the idea that pre-constructed dynamic geometric sketches and…

Investigates teachers' roles and conceptions by analyzing choices taken by mathematics teachers when faced with curriculum reform induced by introducing informatics, educational technology, in secondary school courses. (Author/MKR)