The Coordinated Movements of a Learning Assemblage: Secondary School Students Exploring Wii Graphing Technology

Abstract

This chapter uses assemblage theory to investigate how students engage with graphing technology to explore mathematical relationships. We use the term 'learning assemblage' to describe provisional dynamic physical arrangements involving humans and other bodies moving together and learning together. Emphasis on dynamic coordinated movements allows us to study how mathematics learning occurs in complex interaction with technology. We tap into the rich concept of 'sympathy' to understand the way that students develop a feeling for these coordinated movements as they participate collaboratively in mathematical investigations. Through sympathetic movements, a learning assemblage sustains a kind of affective agreement amongst the various bodies that participate. We show how assemblage theory helps us rethink the role of affect in technology tool use. This chapter sheds light on innovative ways of theorizing the role of Wii graphing technology in mathematical practice.