Pragmatic and epistemic value of instrumented techniques in solving algebraic word problems in an environment of spreadsheet

Abstract

This research documents the pragmatic and epistemic values of the techniques that students of first semester of high school used in the interaction with the spreadsheet, and that guided the way they utilized it to solve algebraic rate word problems. It shows how the students’ interaction with the artifact (Excel) allowed the emergence of new techniques, increasingly sophisticated, and theory which enabled them to explain the results obtained when they solved the problems. The conceptual framework underpinning this research is known as Task-Technique-Theory (T-T-T) proposed by Artigue (2002). The students worked in pairs to solve problems in an environment that involved the exploration, finding patterns and relationships, making conjectures, generalization, formalization and justification of arguments. Our results indicate that the use of the spreadsheet facilitates the development of algebraic thinking associated with generalization and expression of that generality using increasingly symbolic languages.