The role of mathematical aesthetic in network-supported generative design: a case study

• Main Author: Mack, André Joseph, 1968-
• Other Authors: Stroup, Walter M.
• Format: Others
• Language: English
• Published: 2008
• Subjects: Mathematics > Study and teaching; Aesthetics; Educational technology
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/2152/3812

Use of a next-generation, classroom-based network technology for mathematics instruction illuminates possible connections between the aesthetic perceptions of mathematics and mathematics teaching practices. Generative activity design makes use of participatory classroom simulations with the technology to allow students to fully engage in the activities from various levels and trajectories of understanding. Moreover, the student engagement with these activities produces artifacts, the projections of which make mathematical aesthetic visible and a substantial topic in the classroom discourse. This investigation entails the study of one secondary mathematics teacher, examining her instructional practices in the context of a networked-supported environment. This case study, conducted within the framework of a design experiment, uncovers the ways in which the teacher's mathematical aesthetic perceptions acted to (1) constrain her process of generative activity design and (2) frame her role in the mathematical discourse during classroom implementation of the network. Findings suggest the need for augmentation of a generative activity design framework to include overt connections to aesthetic.