Innovations technologiques dans l’enseignement des mathématiques: paradigmes et changement de la professionnalité de l’enseignant

Abstract

Taking Mathematics as an exemplar, this paper addresses the processes of dissemination, regression and resurgence in the development of technological innovations for teaching/learning. The concepts of paradigm, teacher instrumental genesis and professionality are used to analyse these processes, and particularly the position of a key actor: the teacher. The example of the blackboard helps to specify how the paper looks to evolutions resulting from the use of artefacts for teaching/learning. It shows how the above concepts are relevant to analyse a century long process. Th en the paper considers paradigms that in the last thirty years underpinned the technological innovation in schools. These new paradigms demand deep changes in teachers’ professionality as well as instrumental genesis particular to the associated tools. These changes and new genesis can only develop on the long run. Mathematics teaching/learning was particularly affected by two overlapping innovations: programming and symbolic computation on one side, and visualisation and interactivity on the other side. The underlying paradigms did not really permeate teaching practices. Didactical research orked to reconstruct these paradigms especially by taking the teacher into account. But, meanwhile, some of them lost their topicality. The Internet revolution deeply impinges on the teachers’ professionality. The paper offers a potential model of evolution of the teacher’s professionality and points out entries for research studies.