| Much research has explored why students have difficulty interpreting visual representations of mathematical concepts such as graphs and why these misconceptions continue even in advanced math classes (D'Ambrosio, 1985; Kaput & Rochelle, 1996; Mokros & Tinker, 1987). Kaput & Rochelle (1996) suggest that this occurs because in the beginning mathematics classes teachers tend to present a reductive view of mathematical concepts. Consequently, students tend to perceive math as abstractly existing only in textbook problems and not in the everyday contexts. In an attempt to make these concepts more concrete, many classrooms employ various types of technology with the hope of providing students more time to analyze and interpret problems and less time manually calculating the answers. This one-year study was aimed at exploring the links between school-based math and its actualization in the outside world.;Results from the study suggest that learning occurs in new and unforeseen ways with the introduction and integration of a technology. Key issues that follow from this study include: (1) the use of digital video may act as a medium that helps students visualize abstract concepts, (2) the use of multiple representations help show the interconnectedness of ideas, but students still seem to have difficulty interpreting the relationship among concepts, (3) the use of cross grade level evaluations suggest that the social hierarchy in the high school either legitimizes or devalues the feedback depending on who offers the criticism and whether or not the evaluation is conducted on a work in progress, (4) the collaboration the resulted within each group suggests that the roles students perceived themselves as having influenced their interaction with the technology, and, (5) the novelty of digital video on the Internet may transcend the learning of math because the students became consumed with the technical aspects of digital video and not the mathematics. |
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