Helena Rocha

In this chapter, we examine the role of policies and other factors affecting digital technology (DT) integration in mathematics education. In particular, we develop a cross-national analysis of the impact on DT implementation in four countries: two countries in Europe (Italy and Portugal) and two countries in Latin America (Colombia and Mexico). We analyze the role that policies, political changes, reforms, curricula, educational organization and systems, sociocultural aspects, and teachers’ training, knowledge, and beliefs play toward possible DT implementations. We observe that there is a discourse in policies to promote digital technologies’ use, but in practice the availability and integration of such resources in mathematics classrooms is still scarce. We also note that the efforts done during the pandemic did not change this, promoting general ICT use, rather than DT resources that might enhance mathematics teaching and learning.

This paper presents part of a study that aimed to make more explicit the pragmatic theories that inform the design of professional development programs with an emphasis on the integration of digital technologies in the practices of mathematics teachers. The analysis carried out was based on a set of projects considered representative and implemented in four countries – Colombia, Italy, Mexico and Portugal. Based on this analysis, we identify relevant elements (e.g., similarities and differences, barriers and opportunities) and develop recommendations to be taken into account in the design of future professional development programs. In this process, we identified a set of aspects and sub-aspects, as well as several interconnections between them, which emerged in relation to five main themes and allowed us to reveal our pragmatic theories. Thus, this work provides a framework to support the design of future projects for the professional development of mathematics teachers regarding the use of digital technology.

This chapter aims to make more explicit the grounded or ‘pragmatic theories’ that inform the design of mathematics teachers’ professional development (PD) to exploit technological affordances. It uses aspects of some representative projects that took place in four countries (Colombia, Italy, Mexico, and Portugal) to illustrate lessons learned (e.g., similarities and differences, barriers and opportunities) and provide important insights to inform future PD implementations. To do this, we have identified a set of aspects (and sub-aspects) that emerged in relation to five major themes and reveal our ‘pragmatic theories’ alongside a consideration of the interconnections between these aspects. Our contribution offers a methodological frame to support future PD designs for teachers of mathematics concerning digital technology uses.

The aim of the paper is to present and analyse the case of one teacher attempting to introduce his students to fractals using digital technology. His task design process has been made explicit through the writing of a storyboard. It has been analysed in order to focus on the stages of the process, identifying prominent elements in it by using the knowledge quartet framework. Results can be useful to inform teacher educators about his needs with respect to the development of his ability in task design. The importance of this aspect, particularly worth of note in the digital age in which teachers have many opportunities to access teaching resources online, has been amplified by the constraints to which educational systems have been subjected during the Covid-19 pandemic emergency.

The integration of the graphing calculator in mathematical activity encourages students to express many of their processes and ways of thinking. Since some of the activities at the high school level are carried out with the graphing calculator, we intend to investigate the contribution of this resource to promote the learning of nonlinear continuous models in the 11th grade. By adopting a qualitative methodology, we collected and analysed the students‟ writing productions. At first, students used to present the information given by the calculator with no justification. As they acquire skills in the use of this resource, they usually set up the viewing window in order to visualize the graphical representations of functions that model the problem situation they are working on and also relate the different existing menus in the study of those functions characteristics. Such procedures make students to present the data collected in the calculator with a justification of their arguments and a validation of their conjectures.

Through writing, students express many of their processes and ways of thinking. Since at high school level some of the activities are carried out with the graphing calculator, we intend to investigate the contribution of this resource to promote the mathematical writing in the learning of continuous nonlinear models at 11th grade. Adopting a qualitative methodology, we collected and analyzed the students’ writing productions. What they write when using the calculator gives evidence about the information valued (when they sketch graphics without any justification); about the strategies used (when they define the viewing window and relate different menus on the graphing calculator); and about the reasoning developed (when they justify the information given by the calculator and the formulation of generalizations and conjectures validation).