What can digital technologies take from and bring to research in mathematics education? Second International Handbook Of Mathematics Education

In this review, we distinguish two categories of digital technologies, programmable microworlds and expressive tools, chosen to highlight the different ways in which software shapes and is shaped by its incorporation into mathematical teaching and learning environments. The review indicates that software tools do indeed shape learning, but often do so in unpredicted ways. Furthermore, apart from its unsurprising dependence on tasks and activity structures, research suggests that learning is highly sensitive to small changes in technologies, and that the design of tools and learning have tended to co-evolve. The chapter identifies a common research trajectory for the study of any particular software in relation to mathematical education as well as drawing attention to two emergent issues: the openness of tools, and the reconceptualisation of mathematical teaching and learning.