Mediating students' mathematical learning through technology: The role of the graphical calculator.
type: CreativeWork
description: The aim of this study has been to investigate the potential of the graphical calculator for mediating students' learning of functions in mathematics at GCE Advanced level. In carrying out this investigation, the study has been primarily concerned with three inter-related themes: How does the way in which individual students behave affect the shared construction of meaning in a graphical calculator environment? How does the visual imagery provided by the graphical calculator mediate students' understanding of functions? What are the implications for the role of the teacher in graphical calculator environments? In order to address these issues, the study has involved the development of materials and approaches that were subsequently trialled with Lower Sixth form students in a school and a college in the Local Education Authority of Sheffield. An ethnographic approach towards data collection and analysis was adopted, which entailed carrying out detailed studies of singularities in three key phases. The first phase consisted of the exploratory study and considered the learning experiences of novice graphical calculator users. The second phase involved experienced graphical calculator users and was concerned with identifying how knowledge construction might differ as a result of the longer-standing status of the graphical calculator as a tool for supporting mathematics learning. The third and final phase concentrated on the introduction of key function concepts to beginning Advanced level mathematics students and focused on the personal and social factors involved.The findings of this study have served to illustrate both the complexity and interdependence of the individual, social and affective factors involved in students' acquisition of meaning with the graphical calculator. Evidence from the research suggests that the social context has direct bearing on the functioning of the graphical calculator as a cognitive reorganiser. The graphical calculator was found to medi…
abstract: The aim of this study has been to investigate the potential of the graphical calculator for mediating students' learning of functions in mathematics at GCE Advanced level. In carrying out this investigation, the study has been primarily concerned with three inter-related themes: How does the way in which individual students behave affect the shared construction of meaning in a graphical calculator environment? How does the visual imagery provided by the graphical calculator mediate students' understanding of functions? What are the implications for the role of the teacher in graphical calculator environments? In order to address these issues, the study has involved the development of materials and approaches that were subsequently trialled with Lower Sixth form students in a school and a college in the Local Education Authority of Sheffield. An ethnographic approach towards data collection and analysis was adopted, which entailed carrying out detailed studies of singularities in three key phases. The first phase consisted of the exploratory study and considered the learning experiences of novice graphical calculator users. The second phase involved experienced graphical calculator users and was concerned with identifying how knowledge construction might differ as a result of the longer-standing status of the graphical calculator as a tool for supporting mathematics learning. The third and final phase concentrated on the introduction of key function concepts to beginning Advanced level mathematics students and focused on the personal and social factors involved.The findings of this study have served to illustrate both the complexity and interdependence of the individual, social and affective factors involved in students' acquisition of meaning with the graphical calculator. Evidence from the research suggests that the social context has direct bearing on the functioning of the graphical calculator as a cognitive reorganiser. The graphical calculator was found to medi…
author: Elliott, Sally.
language: en
date published: 2000
date modified: 2026-07-24T06:31:21Z
provider: Sheffield Hallam University
publisher: Networked Digital Library of Theses and Dissertations
type: WebPage
source organization: Sheffield Hallam University (United Kingdom).