In this paper, we consider gestures as part of the resources activated in the mathematics classroom: speech, inscriptions, artifacts, etc. As such, gestures are seen as one of the semiotic tools used by students and teacher in mathematics teaching-learning. To analyze them, we introduce a suitable model, the semiotic bundle. It allows focusing on the relationships of gestures with the other semiotic resources within a multimodal approach. It also enables framing the mediating action of the teacher in the classroom: in this respect, we introduce the notion of semiotic game where gestures are one of the major ingredients.
We present a model to analyze the students' activities of argumentation and proof in the graphical context of Elementary Calculus. The theoretical background is provided by the integration of Toulmin's structural description of arguments, Peirce's notions of sign, diagrammatic reasoning and abduction, and Habermas' model for rational behavior. Based on empirical qualitative analysis we identify three different kinds of semiotic actions featuring the organization of the argumentations, and related to different epistemological status of the arguments. In such semiotic actions, the students' argumentation and proof activities are managed and guided according to two intertwined modalities of control, which we call semiotic and theoretic control. The former refers to decisions concerning the selection and implementation of semiotic resources; the latter refers to decisions concerning the selection and implementation of a more or less explicit theory or parts of it. The structure of the model allows us to pinpoint a dialectical dynamics between the two.
We use eye-tracking as a method to examine how different mathematical representations of the same mathematical object are attended to by students. The results show that there is a meaningful difference in the eye movements between formulas and graphs. This difference can be understood in terms of the cultural and social shaping of human perception, as well as in terms of differences between the symbolic and the graphical registers, as they have been examined in literature. The results are also discussed in terms of didactic implications to support teachers in helping students to both deal with and to integrate multiple mathematical representations as well as acknowledge their own specificity.
We present a new measure for evaluating focused versus overview eye movement behavior in a stimulus divided by areas of interest. The measure can be used for overall data, as well as data over time. Using data from an ongoing project with mathematical problem solving, we describe how to calculate the measure and how to carry out a statistical evaluation of the results.
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