RUME 14 (Volume 4)
2011
Portland, Oregon
MATERIAL AGENCY: QUESTIONING BOTH ITS ROLE AND MEDIATIONAL SIGNIFICANCE IN MATHEMATICS LEARNING
Page: 44
Tools in the mathematics classroom are often not given the credence or the attention they warrant. Considering Vygotsky's view of mediation, tools may play a larger role in mathematics then originally thought. This preliminary report presents a framework for attempting to identify the implications of tools in student learning. Using Pickering analytic framework (1995) distinguishing individual, disciplinary and material agencies, 1 am interested in how material agency takes form in the interaction of students with tools. While teaching an education class of pre-service mathematics teachers I will analyze their interactions with a Dynamic Geometric software, specifically Geometer's Sketchpad. In the process of solving a problem I will analyze students' engagement with the tool in terms of the different types of agencies, based on their spoken words and their actions in using the program. Key words: agency, disciplinary agency, material agency, mediation, dynamic geometry software, Geometer's Sketchpad Introduction A tension has always existed between the advocates of mathematics as being more of a mental discipline and, both academics and pedagogues, who consider the physical role of objects, materials or machines playing a formative role in the learning of mathematics. While both sides recognize that tools play their role in the practice of mathematics, the mental mathematicians may consider that tools or machines play a small role to either simplify a calculation to arrive at a particular theorem or merely serve as a vessel that serves the sole purpose of "getting" to the mathematics. This attitude is not so much explicitly stated as it is practiced. Whether stemming from Plato's vision of mathematics as a separate, distinct and pure discipline, that is accessible solely through contemplation (Tarnas, p. 6), mathematical production acts often state no reference to materials or tools