Bridging the macro- and micro-divide: using an activitytheory model to capture sociocultural complexityin mathematics teaching and its development

摘要

This paper is methodologically based, addressing the study of mathematicsteaching by linking micro- and macro-perspectives. Considering teaching as activity, it usesActivity Theory and, in particular, the Expanded Mediational Triangle (EMT) to considerthe role of the broader social frame in which classroom teaching is situated. Theoretical andmethodological approaches are illustrated through episodes from a study of the mathematicsteaching and learning in a Year-10 class in a UK secondary school where students wereconsidered as "lower achievers" in their year group. We show how a number of questionsabout mathematics teaching and learning emerging from microanalysis were investigatedby the use of the EMT. This framework provided a way to address complexity in theactivity of teaching and its development based on recognition of central social factors inmathematics teaching-learning.