A Geography of Connections: Networks of Humans and Materials in Mathematics Classrooms Using Handheld Technology

Abstract

This article examines the role of materials in education by investigating the inclusion of a handheld digital technology in mathematics classrooms. By drawing on activity theory to conceptualize learning with technology and Actor-Network theory to understand the relationships between materials and humans, the use of educational technology in two secondary school mathematics classrooms is investigated. Drawing on interviews and video-recorded classroom observation, this investigation maps the patterns of relations among humans and materials as classroom socio-technical networks adapt to the inclusion of a handheld digital technology. The results present a variety of ways that the human and material actors in classroom socio-technical networks operate as an interconnected whole rather than as a set of individual interactions.

URN: http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:0114-fqs1201121