Using Activity Theory to study the relationship between technology and the learning environment in the arithmetic domain (original) (raw)
Related papers
New technology, new pedagogy? : an activity theory analysis of pedagogical activity with computers
2008
This thesis addresses the question: how docs pedagogy vary. if at alL with the use of computers in four disadvantaged grade 6 mathematics classrooms in the Western Cape province of South Africa'? To address this question an exploratory multiple case study design allowed for the collection of data. in the form of questionnaires. interviews and. primarily, classroom observations over the course of a year in four disadvantaged schools. Four teachers and 149 students took part in the study. Drawing on the body of knowledge described as Activity Theory (AT). the thesis'develops a view of pedagogy as socially situated llsing the work
Australasian Journal of Educational Technology, 2008
This paper describes how activity theory (AT) and its principle of contradictions may be relied on to guide research in educational technology. The paper begins with a theoretical overview of AT and of its principle of contradictions. It follows with a synthesis of studies that have used AT as a lens to study information and communication technologies (ICTs) in educational contexts. We analyse educational technology studies that have focused on contradictions in terms of their underlying assumptions, research questions, approaches to analysis, findings, and implications. The lens of AT and contradictions provides a versatile tool to inquire into various aspects of educational technology use, taking into account individual and institutional perspectives as well as evolution over time. AT and its principle of contradictions provide insights into how transformation may occur with use of ICTs in educational contexts.
Activity Theoretical Approaches to Mathematics Classroom Practices with the Use of Technology
2012
AT is a cross disciplinary approach for studying human practices including teaching and learning. Its roots go back to early Soviet approaches (not just Vygotsky's, though his approach has endured) to psychology. Activity became a focus for Vygotsky in the 1920s in his consideration of consciousness as a problem for psychology: The major objection Vygotsky had to the mentalist tradition was that it confined itself to a vicious circle in which states of consciousness are "explained" by the concept of consciousness. Vygotsky argued that if one is to take consciousness as a subject of study, then the explanatory principle must be sought in some other layer of reality. Vygotsky suggested that socially meaningful activity (Tätigkeit) may play this role and serve as a generator of consciousness. (Kozulin, 1986, xxiii-xxiv)
… Journal of Education and Development using ICT, 2007
This paper outlines how one can use Activity Theory as an analytical framework to understand tool use and its attendant developmental impact in context by selecting objectoriented activity as the unit of analysis. While an understanding of object-oriented activity is central to Activity Theory (AT) the notion of object is a frequently debated and often misunderstood one. The conceptual confusion surrounding the object arises both from difficulties related to translating the original Russian conceptualisation of object-oriented activity into English as well as from the different interpretations of the object currently in use within two contemporary approaches in activity theory. Further compounding the understanding of this notion as it relates to pedagogical practices within schools is its use as a predominantly interventionist tool in work settings to understand transformation rather than as a theory to explain activity in classroom settings. This paper seeks to clarify understandings of the object by exploring notions of object oriented activity before discussing the conceptual challenges arising from its use in two contemporary versions of activity theory. To this end, the paper traces the historical development of the object through Leontiev (1975/78; and expansion of Vygotsky's original triadic understanding of object oriented activity. The paper goes on to elaborate a methodology for using AT to analyse observational data by developing the notion of evaluative episodes as pedagogical events in which the pedagogical object is made visible in computer based mathematics classrooms.
Perspectives in Education, 2005
at the School of Education, University of Cape Town. Her research interests include using Sociocultural and Activity Theory as a framework for understanding learning and cognition in school and tertiary educational settings, tracking the development of mathematical concepts in children, computer-assisted learning and teaching; using developmental work research to provoke change in classroom settings and developing wireless technology as a learning/ teaching tool at a tertiary level.
Despite the research and investment of Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) in schools, many teachers still use it as a neutral tool; that is, a tool that can be used to carry out the same teaching and learning activities as have been undertaken previously with non-ICT tools. This paper adopts activity theory as a conceptual framework to describe and analyse how the objectives of two economics courses are shaped by their participants and learning environments, and in turn, how these shared objectives affect the way ICT is used in these courses. The paper goes on to suggest that the object of the activity systems pose as a major barrier to the creative use of ICT in schools.
2005
Because computers potentially transform pedagogy, much has been made of their ability to impact positively on student performance, particularly in subjects such as mathematics and science. However, there is currently a dearth of research regarding exactly how the computer acts as a transformative tool in disadvantaged schools. Drawing on a detailed case study of a Grade 6 mathematics classroom I address the question of whether the introduction of a new tool - the computer - into the classroom shifts a teacher's pedagogical practice. I do this by elaborating on Vygotsky's learning theory before discussing Activity Theory as a framework for analysing change within and between the activity systems of the classroom and the computer laboratory. By focusing on contradictions as dynamic forces of change, I demonstrate how we can track transformation within an activity system. Tracking these contradictions enables me to illustrate how the use of the computer potentially leads to a s...