TECHNOLOGY, MATHEMATICS, AND PEOPLE: INTERACTIONS IN A COMMUNITY OF PRACTICE

This paper describes our sociocultural perspective on learning in secondary mathematics classrooms where technology is integrated as a central resource. We propose four roles for technology in relation to student learning: Master, Servant, Partner and Extension of Self. One classroom episode is analysed to reveal the different 'voices' that emerge through the interaction of mathematics, people (students and teacher) and technology. We are using this approach to develop a framework for describing and analysing the characteristics of a classroom community of practice. The sociocultural orientation that underpins our research emphasises the socially and culturally situated nature of mathematical activity, with learning viewed as a collective process of enculturation into practices of mathematical communities. The classroom as a community of mathematical practice supports a culture of sense making, where students learn by immersion in authentic practices of the discipline. This is distinguished from the constructivist position (Cobb and Bauersfeld, 1995), in which priority is given to the individual construction of understanding, and where social interaction acts principally as a source of cognitive conflict to force the reorganisation of personal mental structures. Our approach is predicated on three basic assumptions of sociocultural theory: (1) Human action is mediated by cultural tools, and is fundamentally transformed in the process. (2) The tools include technical and physical artefacts, but also concepts, reasoning, symbol systems, modes of argumentation and representation. (3) Learning is achieved by appropriating and using effectively, cultural tools currently recognised and validated by the relevant community of practice. To understand how this appropriation occurs, we make use of Vygotsky's notion of the zone of proximal development in order to examine the social and communicative conditions of learning in classroom settings. In particular, we draw on Bakhtin's theory of voice (Renshaw & Brown, 1998) to investigate interactions between people, technology and mathematics in a senior secondary classroom.