Math Problem, Facebook and Emergent Classrooms
Marcelo C. Borba
Universidade Estadual Paulista, Brazil
“If production of knowledge is understood in this way, what constitutes a ‘‘problem’’ will depend on the nature of the humans-with-media collective. A problem that needs to be solved, or that puzzles someone, may not be a problem when a search software tool like Google is available. Similarly, a real problem for collectives of humans-with-orality may not constitute a problem for a collective of humans-with-paper-and-pencil.” (p. 804, Borba (2012)
In this talk I will unpack the above quote from a recently published paper on ZDM. I will discuss first the way Internet and mobile telephones in particular, and digital technology in general, are changing the nature of what it means to be a human being (Castells, 2009; Borba, 2012). I will present to the reader my view regarding four phases of the use of digital technology in mathematics education (Borba, 2012) in order to discuss how interaction occurs in presence of such technology. I will then discuss what can be labeled “emergent classrooms” within the fourth phase. I will focus on how social networks such as Facebook and other features of this phase are transforming interaction in the classroom, and perhaps even creating new images of what a classroom may be. Examples from pre-calculus/early calculus will be provided.
References
Borba, M.C. Humans-with-media and continuing education for mathematics teachers in online environments. ZDM Mathematics Education 6(44) p. 801-814. (2012).
Borba, M. C. Potential scenarios for Internet use in the mathematics classroom. ZDM, 41(4), 453–465, 2009.
Borba, M. C., Villarreal, M. E. (2005) Humans-with-media and the reorganization of mathematical thinking: information and communication technologies, modeling, visualization, and experimentation. New York, Springer.
Castells, M. (2009) Communicating Power. London: Oxford University Press
Levy, P. (1993) As Tecnologias da Inteligência: o futuro do pensamento na era da informática. Rio de Janeiro: Editora 34.