RecordNumber
2374
Author
Jaworski, Barbara
Crop_Body
Barbara Jaworski & Despina Potari
Title of Article
Bridging the macro- and micro-divide: using an activity theory model to capture sociocultural complexity in mathematics teaching and its development
Title Of Journal
Educ Stud Math
PublishInfo
Springer
Publication Year
2009
Issue Number
72
Page
219–236
Keywords
Mathematics teaching , Teaching as activity , Activity theory , Expanded meditational triangle , Macroanalysis , Microanalysis , Teaching triad
Abstract
This paper is methodologically based, addressing the study of mathematics
teaching by linking micro- and macro-perspectives. Considering teaching as activity, it uses
Activity Theory and, in particular, the Expanded Mediational Triangle (EMT) to consider
the role of the broader social frame in which classroom teaching is situated. Theoretical and
methodological approaches are illustrated through episodes from a study of the mathematics
teaching and learning in a Year-10 class in a UK secondary school where students were
considered as “lower achievers” in their year group. We show how a number of questions
about mathematics teaching and learning emerging from microanalysis were investigated
by the use of the EMT. This framework provided a way to address complexity in the
activity of teaching and its development based on recognition of central social factors in
mathematics teaching–learning.