Digital Tools in Lower Secondary School Mathematics Education: A Review of Qualitative Research on Mathematics Learning of Lower Secondary School Students

Abstract

Mathematics-specific digital technology has an ever-increasing presence in school mathematics learning, and qualitative research has shed light on the potential nature of that learning. Particularly for students at the critical early teen age (ages 10–14, or lower secondary school students), the incorporation of mathematics-specific digital technology in their mathematics instruction can change the representations they see, the mathematical activity in which they engage, and the mathematical content they learn. Research on the impact of mathematics-specific digital technology on lower secondary school students has focused on the mediation of the technology on the relationships between the student and mathematical representation, mathematical activity, and/or mathematical content. To examine the nature of understanding of mathematics learning that can be gleaned from this research, a review of the qualitative research literature on the mathematics learning of lower secondary students in the context of mathematics-specific digital technology was conducted. Fifty-three relevant studies were identified and examined based on a pyramidal model describing the mediation by digital technology of the relationships between the student, and some combination of mathematical activity, mathematical representation, and mathematical content. This chapter uses selected studies from that review to represent ways in which qualitative research probes students’ mathematical work. The selected studies are used to illuminate the breadth and depth of students’ experience with mathematical activity, mathematical representation, and mathematical content, and the relationships among them.