Introducing an old calculating instrument in a new technologies environment: a praxeological analysis of students' tasks using different registers

Abstract

The Chinese abacus is the resource presented in this paper, to teach and learn number sense and place-value system at primary level. The Chinese abacus can be material, virtual (software) or drawn on a worksheet. We present three tasks and analyse them in term of techniques and relative knowledge. We show how these tasks can be solved by students in different registers (material, software, paper-and-pencil, fingers, oral) which is important for both students' understanding and teachers' activity. KEYWORDS Material and virtual resources, praxeology, task, technique, technology, register, number sense, place-value system, Chinese abacus. R{É}SUM{É} Le boulier chinois est la ressource pr{é}sent{é}e dans cet article, pour enseigner et apprendre la construction du nombre et le syst{è}me de num{é}ration d{é}cimal {à} l'{é}cole. Le boulier chinois peut {ê}tre mat{é}riel, virtuel (logiciel) ou dessin{é} sur une feuille. Nous pr{é}sentons trois t{â}ches et les analysons en terme de techniques et connaissances sous-jacentes. Nous montrons comment ces t{â}ches peuvent {ê}tre r{é}solues par des {é}l{è}ves dans diff{é}rents registres (mat{é}riel, logiciel, papier-crayon, mains, oral) ce qui est important pour la compr{é}hension des {é}l{è}ves et {é}galement pour l'activit{é} des professeurs.

Review of science, mathematics and ICT education, Laboratory of Didactics of Sciences, Mathematics and ICT, Department of Educational Sciences and Early Childhood Education - University of Patras., 2017