Abstract
This paper focuses on a duo of artifacts, constituted by a physical artifact and its digital counterpart. It deals with the theoretically and empirically underpinned design process of the digital artifact, the e-pascaline developed with Cabri Elem technology, in reference to a physical artifact, the pascaline. The theoretical frameworks of the instrumental approach and the theory of semiotic mediation together with the analysis of teaching experiments with the pascaline support the design in terms of continuity and discontinuity between the two artifacts. The components of the digital artifact were chosen from among the components of the physical artifact that are the object of instrumental genesis by the students and that are analyzed as having a semiotic potential that contributes to didactical aims. Components instrumented by students which had inadequate semiotic potential were eliminated. With the resulting duo, each artifact adds value to the use of the other artifact for mathematical learning.
Highlights
As suggested by Pepin, Gueudet, and Trouche (2013) in the introduction to this issue of ZDM, the number of available resources for teaching seems to be continually increasing
We have studied how a duo of artifacts can be designed to enhance the mathematical learning experience of students
Our duo of artifacts is constituted by a physical machine, the pascaline, and its digital counterpart, the e-pascaline embedded into e-books
Summary
As suggested by Pepin, Gueudet, and Trouche (2013) in the introduction to this issue of ZDM, the number of available resources for teaching seems to be continually increasing. If a process of design is foreseen, as in this paper, the research questions are as follows: (1) what are the possible choices of features for the digital counterpart with the aim of constituting a duo in which each artifact would add value to the use of the other; and (2) what theoretical elements can support the analysis of the material artifact and the choice for the design of the digital one?. The two theoretical components are used in three different steps of our methodology They provide the frame- work for studying the existing physical pascaline and the way in which its use results in student mathematical learning. Beyond the scope of the present paper, they will be used to study the learning processes of students using both artifacts
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