Integra(C)tion of graphic supports. a case-study on parabolic motion for students with learning difficulties

Abstract

What opportunities do technological and digital resources provide for teacher mediation in case of learning difficulties? Starting from the findings on teaching accommodation (Hodge and Preston-Sabin 1997; Tomlinson and Murphy 2015) and multimodal strategies (Walters 2010; Kress 2001, 2010), a case-study on the ‘integration’ of three graphic supports (Mayer 1989, 2005; Clark and Lyons 2010) (algebraic function formula; representation on the Cartesian plane; dynamic representation through interactive software-GeoGebra) will be described. The study regards the teaching integration of these graphic supports for the representation of a parabolic motion in a secondary school class that includes students with dyscalculia. Through the triangulation of questionnaire, document analysis and in-depth interviews, the analysis highlights relevant aspects regarding the integration of visual and motor representation of learnings (Eilam 2015), in order to support the learning difficulties. These early findings confirm the meta-analyzes already known (Hattie 2012), the necessity to invest in the multimodal competence of the teacher (Bruce et al. 2013) and lead us to deepen the effective relationship between digital resources and learning difficulties.