"It’s easy. We got Desmos right here": The role of mathematical action technology in positioning students as mathematical explorers

Abstract

The positive impact on student learning and continued support of mathematical action technology (MAT) in classrooms deems a need to better understand what teaching practices maximize the affordances of MATs. The purpose of this study was to better understand the technology-centered teacher moves that allow students the opportunity to be positioned as mathematical explorers and sustain mathematical authority during a MAT task. In this case study of a MAT task designed to leverage the power of sliders in Desmos to explore key characteristics of the sine function, participants were two ninth-grade students (age 14), who engaged with a task-based interview. By coding the transcript of the task-based interview, the findings identified and described the teacher's actions with the technology that resulted in meaningful mathematical activity for the two students. Along with teacher actions with the technology, evidence showed the importance of the design of the MAT task and the ability of students to troubleshoot the technology. Ultimately, we identified important considerations for teaching mathematics with technology as well as several technology-centered teaching moves, leaving room for the students to perform as mathematical explorers. Applying these research methods for future cases could help generalize these technology-centered teaching strategies that position students as mathematical explorers, thus strengthening students' mathematics identities.