Digital technology and mathematics education: Core ideas and key dimensions of Michèle Artigue’s theoretical work on digital tools and its impact on mathematics education research

Abstract

In this chapter, we revisit Michèle Artigue’s classic 2002 IJCML article and draw out what we consider to be the core theoretical ideas and key dimensions of the body of work on tools and tool use that Michèle not only elaborated but also inspired others to further develop. We trace the evolutionary path of these core ideas, noting the ways in which they theorise the four general key dimensions of learner, teacher, tool, and mathematics. We focus on seven core theoretical ideas that have been central to Michèle’s work and that have impacted in various ways the research of others: the instrumental approach to tool use, instrumental genesis, the pragmatic-epistemic duality, the technical-conceptual connection, the paper-and-pencil versus digitally-instrumented-technique relationship, the institutional aspect, and the networking of theories.