Abstract:In this literature survey we focus on identifying recent advances in research on digital technology in the field of mathematics education. To conduct the survey we have used Internet search engines with keywords related to mathematics education and digital technology and have reviewed some of the main international journals, including the ones in Portuguese and Spanish. We identify five sub-areas of research, important trends of development, and illustrate them using case studies: mobile technologies, massive open online courses (MOOCs), digital libraries and designing learning objects, collaborative learning using digital technology, and teacher training using blended learning. These exemplary case studies may help the reader to understand how recent developments in this area of research have evolved in the last few years. We conclude the report discussing some of the implications that these digital technologies may have for mathematics education research and practice as well as making some recommendations for future research in this area.
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to examine the intersection of artificial intelligence (AI), computational thinking (CT), and mathematics education (ME) for young students (K-8). Specifically, it focuses on three key elements that are common to AI, CT and ME: agency, modeling of phenomena and abstracting concepts beyond specific instances.
Design/methodology/approach
The theoretical framework of this paper adopts a sociocultural perspective where knowledge is constructed in interactions with others (Vygotsky, 1978). Others also refers to the multiplicity of technologies that surround us, including both the digital artefacts of our new media world, and the human methods and specialized processes acting in the world. Technology is not simply a tool for human intention. It is an actor in the cognitive ecology of immersive humans-with-technology environments (Levy, 1993, 1998) that supports but also disrupts and reorganizes human thinking (Borba and Villarreal, 2005).
Findings
There is fruitful overlap between AI, CT and ME that is of value to consider in mathematics education.
Originality/value
Seeing ME through the lenses of other disciplines and recognizing that there is a significant overlap of key elements reinforces the importance of agency, modeling and abstraction in ME and provides new contexts and tools for incorporating them in classroom practice.
This paper documents both developments in the technologies used to promote learning mathematics and the influence on research of social theories of learning, through reference to the activities of the International Commission on Mathematical Instruction (ICMI), and argues that these changes provide opportunity for the reconceptualization of our understanding of mathematical learning. Firstly, changes in technology are traced from discipline-specific computer-based software through to Web 2.0-based learning tools. Secondly, the increasing influence of social theories of learning on mathematics education research is reviewed by examining the prevalence of papers and presentations, which acknowledge the role of social interaction in learning, at ICMI conferences over the past 20 years. Finally, it is argued that the confluence of these developments means that it is necessary to re-examine what it means to learn and do mathematics and proposes that it is now possible to view learning mathematics as an activity that is performed rather than passively acquired.
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