Alison Clark-Wilson

University College London | UCL · UCL Knowledge Lab, UCL Institute of Education

This article presents preliminary results from a survey commissioned for ICME 13 (2016) focusing on “Teachers Working and Learning Through Collaboration”. It takes as a starting point a previous survey, commissioned for ICME 10 in 2004 that focused on Mathematics Teacher Education. The current survey focuses centrally on teachers involved in collab...

It is generally accepted that the introduction of networked technologies to the mathematics classroom can stimulate an irreversible change within the classroom concerning: the role of the teacher; the nature of the classroom tasks; and the way in which students engage in the process of learning mathematics. This article will use the context of a cl...

This paper reports research on effects on teachers’ classroom practices resulting from their engagement in sustained professional development and classroom teaching of a resource that embeds carefully designed dynamic technology within middle school mathematics (11-14 years). The research investigated the self-reported evolution of teachers’ classr...

The notion of the lesson ‘hiccup’, defined as the perturbation experienced by a teacher during teaching that has been triggered by the use of mathematical technology, was first proposed in Clark-Wilson (2010). The construct emerged from a study that adopted an activity theoretic research perspective to make sense of the process of secondary mathema...

The interplay among and connections between objects (structured or unstructured), images, language and symbols that lead to mathematical reasoning and the stating of mathematical propositions of very wide generality is well worth closer study. I believe that the subtle distinction between the way mathematical ideas are constructed from objects and...

In recent years, there has been a growing efort to deepen our understanding of the complexities and mechanisms involved in integrating technology into mathematics education. This pursuit has led to the emergence of various theoretical frameworks, among which the Structuring Features of Classroom Practice (SFCP) (Ruthven, 2009) stands out. This pape...

Research on technology and mathematics education has been a longstanding interest of the PME community. In this paper we revisit the interplay between technology and conjecturing within the process of problem-solving with an intention to capture different aspects of the processes in which students make and explore mathematical conjectures, and role...

We report part of a larger research study that explores secondary teachers’ integration of dynamic mathematical technology (DMT) to their classroom practice with a particular focus on the mathematical domain of geometric similarity (GS). The study adopted a multiple case study approach and was situated in an English lower secondary school setting....

In this chapter, we offer an overview of some of the major trends in theory development and use in relation to teaching mathematics with digital technology. We showcase some of the developments that have occurred since the first edition of this book (2014). We also provide a deep review of the multiple ways in which the instrumental approach has ev...

The Fifteenth International Conference on Technology in Mathematics Teaching (ICTMT 15) took place on September 13–16, 2022, in the Danish School of Education, Aarhus University, located on campus Emdrup, in the Northwestern district of Copenhagen, Denmark.

In this paper, we analyse a large, opportunistic dataset of responses (N = 219,826) to online, diagnostic multiple-choice mathematics questions, provided by 6–16-year-old UK school mathematics students (N = 7302). For each response, students were invited to indicate on a 5-point Likert-type scale how confident they were that their response was corr...

This paper examines what misconceptions about geometric similarity (GS) teachers can attend in their curriculum scripts and how they use dynamic mathematical technology (DMT) in the classroom to promote students to encounter, reflect upon and address their misconceptions. The Structuring Features of Classroom Practice (SFCP) construct of 'curriculu...

The context of a 2.5 year academia-led programme for the educational technology sector in the United Kingdom is used to explore the role of logic models as boundary objects to support the programme objectives. The programme provided educational research training and mentoring to participants from 252 small and medium-sized enterprises to support th...

Research has extensively documented that students develop a significant misconception associated with the incorrect use of additive strategies when engaging with geometric similarity (GS) tasks. Since dynamic digital technology (DDT) has the potential to support students to confront and reflect upon this misconception, teachers can exploit the affo...

This new working group (WG) was created to discuss the theoretical and methodological challenges faced by the mathematics education field when the prevailing boundaries of the classroom shifted; alongside the changed nature of the classroom interactions between the humans (teachers and students) and the chosen technologies. Starting with the assump...

The EDUCAtional Technology Exchange programme (EDUCATE) at UCL Institute of Education provides the context for this paper, which describes the programme’s vision, objectives and key activities, and sets the context for the collection of articles that follow. This university-led programme was underpinned by Luckin’s (2016) golden triangle of evidenc...

Koch, M., Confrey, J., Clark-Wilson, A., Jameson, E., & Suurtamm, C. (in press). Digital mapping of school mathematics: Three contrasting approaches, their implications and uses. In A. Donevska-Todorova, E. Faggiano, J. Trgalova, H. - G. Weigand, & A. Clark-Wilson (Eds.) Mathematics education in the digital age: Learning, practice and theory. Routl...

Article is Open access at: https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007%2Fs11858-020-01196-0 In this survey paper, we describe the state of the field of research on teaching mathematics with technology with an emphasis on the secondary school phase. We synthesize themes, questions, results and perspectives emphasized in the articles that appear in t...

In January 2019, the Government Office for Science commissioned a series of 4 rapid evidence reviews to explore how technology and research can help improve educational outcomes for learners with Specific Learning Difficulties (SpLDs). This review examined: 1) current understanding of the causes and identification of SpLDs, 2)the support system for...

A diverse group of scholars redefine constructionism—introduced by Seymour Papert in 1980—in light of new technologies and theories. Constructionism, first introduced by Seymour Papert in 1980, is a framework for learning to understand something by making an artifact for and with other people. A core goal of constructionists is to respect learners...

Recent international surveys such as the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) report Students, Computers and Learning ( 2015) highlight the wide gap in students’ access to, and use of, technology in secondary mathematics in participating countries. The OECD “snapshot” methodology in which 15-year-old students were asked if...

This paper reports doctoral work that seeks to reveal the professional learning of 12 primary teachers in England working collaboratively when developing their practices within a school-based professional development initiative. The common goal was to develop questions and prompts associated with promoting learning from variation during three itera...

We report a new phase of research of the scaling of Cornerstone Maths (CM), technology-enhanced curriculum units for lower secondary mathematics that embed dynamic mathematical technology (DMT). These combine web-based DMT, pupil and teacher materials, and teacher professional development that focus on developing the mathematical knowledge and peda...

In the 21st century, mathematical confidence and functionality are considered to be of crucial importance to individuals and to national economies, which is reflected in national policies, as well as in the status of international performance comparisons such as the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) (Organisation for Economic Co...

This symposium foregrounds an important topic for 21st century mathematics education, that is the nature of students’ and teachers’ mathematical thinking in the digital age. The dynamic and ubiquitous nature of technology has impacted on teaching and learning practices within and outside of formal education settings, which demands regular pauses fo...

This symposium foregrounds an important topic for 21st century mathematics education, that is the nature of students’ and teachers’ mathematical thinking in the digital age. The dynamic and ubiquitous nature of technology has impacted on teaching and learning practices within and outside of formal education settings, which demands regular pauses fo...

The ScratchMaths (SM) intervention was designed in response to changes in the primary curriculum in England to incorporate mandatory computer science-aiming to exploit this change in the interests of mathematics learning. In this paper we describe SM and its critical components for implementation with fidelity, leading to the derivation of quantifi...

14 March 2019 What are the issues around using dynamic mathematical technology in mathematics learning? Dynamic mathematical software consists of tools and environments to support mathematical thinking These offer opportunities to reconceptualise the underlying mathematics through different and linked mathematical representations, accessible to s...

EDUCATE is a London‐based programme that supports the development of research‐informed educational technology (EdTech), allowing entrepreneurs and start‐ups to create their products and services, and simultaneously grow their companies in a more evidence‐informed manner. The programme partners businesses with researchers who mentor, guide and suppo...

A 3-year study of 209 mathematics teachers in England implementing Cornerstone Maths curriculum units for lower secondary mathematics that embed dynamic technology provides a rich data set on teachers’ curriculum enactments. Focusing on the curriculum unit on linear functions, we report gaps between teachers’ planned and actual curriculum enactment...

Teacher knowledge for the teaching of key topics in secondary mathematics (in particular geometric similarity) is of prime interest to the mathematics education community. This theoretical paper, which forms part of a literature review conducted for a doctoral study, aims to discuss the few existing research studies addressing teacher knowledge of...

As technology and digital resources have become ubiquitous in mathematics education research and practice, it is time to examine the particular ways that digital technology is affecting the different knowledge domains. It is clear that the discerning use of technology requires a deeper understanding of how the mathematics shapes and is shaped by th...

This chapter describes two case examples of the use of mobile technology for mathematics. Building on the assumption that mobile learning has a positive effect on student attitudes and academic outcomes, including STEM subjects (Hsi, 2007; Wu et al., 2012) we develop a theoretical lens for future studies for ‘mobile mathematics’. The two case examp...

The use of digital technologies in mathematics classroom continues to increase. Yet even when well-planned, such use is not unproblematic; indeed, uncertainties are inherent. In this article, we use analyses of teachers’ activity in two classrooms, a French one and an English one, when technology in general, and dynamic geometry software in particu...

EDUCATE is a London-based partnership that supports and promotes the use of research-based education technology, allowing entrepreneurs and start-ups to develop their products and services, and grow their companies in an evidence-informed manner. The EDUCATE process connects businesses with researchers who will mentor, guide and support them on the...

This chapter focuses on technology-mediated tasks with an emphasis on the explicit design decisions that influence how tasks are subsequently used in and for mathematical learning. It considers how such tasks are combined or developed to produce learning sequences or courses and finishes by addressing an important emerging theme – the design of tas...

Set within the context of the longitudinal Cornerstone Maths project in England. we adapt Thomas and Hong’s theoretical framework (mathematical) ‘pedagogic technology knowledge’ (MPTK, Thomas & Hong, 2013) to explore teachers’ espoused knowledge to teach with dynamic mathematical technology in lower secondary mathematics. We conclude a set of eight...

Technology has created an expectation in all phases of education that requires us to understand how we can harness its potential for improving the depth and quality of mathematical learning. It is highly unlikely that there is a universal recipe or formula for how technology should be used that would satisfy every context or culture, but there have...

The design of tasks for the exploration of mathematical concepts involving technology can take several starting points. In many cases the ‘tool’ is predefined as an existing mathematics application with an embedded set of design principles that shape the mathematical tasks that are possible. In other cases, the tool and tasks are designed through a...

Dynamic mathematical digital resources promise a transformation of the teaching and learning of mathematics by enabling teachers and learners to experience and explore difficult mathematical ideas in more tangible ways. However, reports of classroom practice reveal an underuse of such technologies—particularly by learners—and research findings arti...

The early optimism for how technology might transform teaching and learning practices in mainstream school classrooms has long faded in many countries around the world. Whilst early research findings suggested that this was due to obvious barriers such as access to the technology itself, more recent attempts to scale student-access have illuminated...

This report summarises the outcomes of the Nuffield Foundation funded 2014–17 project ‘Developing teachers’ mathematical knowledge for teaching and classroom use of technology through engagement with key mathematical concepts using dynamic digital technology’. The Nuffield Foundation is an endowed charitable trust that aims to improve social well-b...

This report summarises the outcomes of the Nuffield Foundation funded 2014–17 project ‘Developing teachers’ mathematical knowledge for teaching and classroom use of technology through engagement with key mathematical concepts using dynamic digital technology’. The Nuffield Foundation is an endowed charitable trust that aims to improve social well-b...

This report summarises the outcomes of the Nuffi eld Foundation funded 2014–17 project ‘Developing teachers’ mathematical knowledge for teaching and classroom use of technology through engagement with key mathematical concepts using dynamic digital technology’. The Nuffi eld Foundation is an endowed charitable trust that aims to improve social well...

The Executive Summary for the Nuffield Foundation funded 2014–17 project ‘Developing teachers’ mathematical knowledge for teaching and classroom use of technology through engagement with key mathematical concepts using dynamic digital technology’. The Nuffield Foundation is an endowed charitable trust that aims to improve social well-being in the w...

The ICTMT conference proceedings chart the development of technology use in mathematics education from the 1990s to the current day. Throughout this period, the prevailing topics for plenaries, papers and workshops have been focused on the development of innovative classroom practices involving ‘new’ technologies. Alongside this, there has been a s...

The technology working group continues to increase in size since its inclusion at the first CERME congress in 1999. During CERME 9, for the first time the group was divided from the beginning, giving birth to two separate groups: TWG15 focusing on issues related to the teaching mathematics and teacher education and professional development, and TWG...

This paper reports research into aspects of ‘scaling’ classroom access to technology within the context of an English teacher development project, ‘Cornerstone Maths’. The aim of this multi-year project is to address issues of underuse of dynamic mathematical technologies by lower secondary students in classrooms through: specially designed web-bas...

This paper describes the outcomes of a strand of research within the Cornerstone Maths project in England that has focused on teachers’ participation in blended learning and e-learning support. Cornerstone Maths is a multi-year project that began in 2011 and adopts a design based research approach to scale the use of technology enhanced curriculum...

This chapter details the methodological approach adopted within a doctoral study that sought to apply and expand Verillon and Rabardel’s (European Journal of Psychology of Education, 10, 77–102, 1995) triad of instrumented activity as a means to understand the longitudinal epistemological development of a group of secondary mathematics teachers as...

This chapter provides an overview of the book’s content in relation to the ‘grain size’ of the focus and analysis of the different methodologies contained within the constituent chapters. In addition it offers some classification in terms of static, dynamic and more evolutionary approaches to researching teachers’ uses of digital technologies in cl...

Teacher education is an important issue for society and it is framed within cultural, social, political and historical contexts. In recent years international research in mathematics education has offered a range of theoretical perspectives that provide different and interrelated frames and viewpoints (Ball and Bass 2003; Clark and Hollingworth 200...

This Research Forum highlights the most recent research on the development of the role of the teacher of mathematics within mathematics classrooms that involve the use of technological tools, with an emphasis on teachers’ experiences within both formal and informal professional development programmes. We foreground the theoretical ideas and methodo...

This volume addresses the key issue of the initial education and lifelong professional learning of teachers of mathematics to enable them to realize the affordances of educational technology for mathematics. With invited contributions from leading scholars in the field, this volume contains a blend of research articles and descriptive texts. In the...

This Research Forum highlights the most recent research on the development of the role of the teacher of mathematics within mathematics classrooms that involve the use of technological tools, with an emphasis on teachers’ experiences within both formal and informal professional development programmes. We foreground the theoretical ideas and methodo...

Using ICT such as spread sheets, geometry packages or computer algebra when learning and teaching mathematics is recommended or compulsory in the curricula of many European countries by good reasons. Technology offers the potentiality to enhance the learning of mathematics (Zbiek, 2007). But to develop this potentiality it is important to support t...

This paper builds on the outcomes of the Cornerstone Maths pilot study, a USA/UK collaboration, which is now in a phase of scaling to over 100 schools. We describe the vision for the project and its iterative design, both informed by a twenty-year history of research on dynamic digital technologies. The resulting intervention builds on our understa...

Research Briefing Nº 32 Cornerstone Maths: embedding dynamic interactive technologies in key stage 3 mathematics classrooms This research is about 'dynamic interactive technology', that is, systems that exploit the way moving screen objects can be controlled by learners, who receive feedback from the on-screen objects.

The Cornerstone Maths project, a collaboration between Stanford Research Institute and the London Knowledge Lab, has provided the context for the development of an approach to scaling-up key stage 3 students' access to powerful mathematical ideas expressed with specifically designed technology. The approach integrates teacher and student materials,...