Literature Review: A Sociocultural Framework For Understanding Technology Integration In Secondary School Mathematics

This article was written by Merrilyn Goos in 2010; It claims that, "the paper proposes a framework for analyzing relationships between factors influencing teachers use of digital technologies in secondary mathematics classrooms." However, I found the "framework" to be somewhat less than I had anticipated when I began reading. The article argues that simply evaluating technology integration on the basis of a teacher's access to technology, institutional support and school educational policies is insufficient for understanding why some math teachers integrate technology more successfully than others.

This article proposes an adaptation of Valsiner's Zone Theory of Child Development, which seems similar in both structure and terminology to McRel's Knowledge Taxonomy discussed in EDU 533, to evaluate areas of pedagogic philosophy as it impacts technology integration. Valsiner's zones are: zone of proximal development (ZDP), zone of free movement (ZFM), and zone of promoted action (ZPA). These zones are used to examine the relationship between the teachers pedagogic philosophy, classroom environment, and beliefs about applying technology to the learning process.

The study included four Australian math teachers, and the results are presented by "telling the story" through two fictional case studies of teachers named Susie and Brian. Their stories were deconstructed and elements of Valsiner's zone theory were applied to demonstrate how different behaviors, beliefs, and practices fell within the domain of each zone. Brian was an older, experienced teacher who had headed a math department and took a job in a new school. He found that technology wasn't being applied coherently across the curriculum, and the school culture was lethargic about promoting technological use. Brian, with the support of the principal, encouraged the department to design a new, more technology rich environment and arranged to get classroom orders of graphing calculators through loan programs offered by manufacturers. Susie is a new teacher in her mid 20s, and she is very comfortable with a range of technology. She runs a tech savvy class and spends more time discussing the potential of mathematics with her class and less time actually calculating.

Goos' research method involved collecting information about each teacher through several tools. Each teacher was given an interview discussing their knowledge, beliefs about technology, and professional development training in regards technology. Each teacher took a Mathematical Beliefs Questionaire designed by Goos and an associate: Bennison, in 2002. Lastly, each teacher was observed and video recorded several times throughout a year. Afterward, the findings were analyzed and catagorized by their relationship to each of Valsiner's zones.

While reading this article, I was struck by how teachers all across the world seem to be struggling with what integrating technology into the classroom looks like. In a world where machines can do the calculations for the students, is it more effective to teach mathematical calculation or how to apply programs to the real applications? Although I absolutely agree that spending more time applying math to real world situations is more educational than endless practice problems and "doing it by hand", I still wonder if separating learners from the calculating aspect will create a distance between knowing math and knowing how to apply a tool to do math for you.





"A SOCIOCULTURAL FRAMEWORK FOR UNDERSTANDING TECHNOLOGY INTEGRATION IN SECONDARY SCHOOL MATHEMATICS." PNA 5.1 (2010): 173-182. Academic Search Complete. EBSCO. Web. 26 Apr. 2011.

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