The Role of Artefacts and Resources in the Transition Between Mathematical Experiences Within and Between Digital and Non-digital Contexts

The introduction of digital artefacts for the teaching/learning of mathematics raises the issue of “transitioning” between the mathematical knowledge built in digital contexts and that built in a more traditional, non-digital context, and vice versa. In this article, we address this issue by presenting a teaching experiment aimed at fostering the development of the concept of variable in a lower secondary school, through the use of the spreadsheet. We depict a complex network of several inter- twined transitions: from the non-digital to the digital context; between different activities within the same digital context; and from the digital to the non-digital con- text. We highlight the centrality of the teacher’s role in triggering and supporting these transitions, thus fostering the students’ construction of resources for solving the assigned tasks. For our analysis, we propose a conceptualisation of the resources that takes into account the fact that such resources cannot always be established a priori, but that they can emerge during the activity with the digital artefact or that they can even be constructed as an effect of it. Addressing this complexity allows us to deepen insights into how the classroom use of digital artefacts, the process of construction and emergence of resources, both for students and for the teacher, and different types of transitions nurture each other in a productive intertwining.