Demonstrating Mathematics Learning as the Emergence of Eye-Hand Dynamic Equilibrium

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Bibliographic Details
Title: Demonstrating Mathematics Learning as the Emergence of Eye-Hand Dynamic Equilibrium
Language: English
Authors: Rotem Abdu (ORCID 0000-0002-5253-4050), Sofia Tancredi, Dor Abrahamson, Ramesh Balasubramaniam
Source: Educational Studies in Mathematics. 2025 118(3):505-528.
Availability: Springer. Available from: Springer Nature. One New York Plaza, Suite 4600, New York, NY 10004. Tel: 800-777-4643; Tel: 212-460-1500; Fax: 212-460-1700; e-mail: customerservice@springernature.com; Web site: https://link.springer.com/
Peer Reviewed: Y
Page Count: 24
Publication Date: 2025
Document Type: Journal Articles
Reports - Research
Descriptors: Mathematical Concepts, Mathematics Skills, Eye Movements, Coordination, Psychomotor Skills, Students, Learning Processes, Computer Assisted Instruction, Multiplication, Thinking Skills, Spatial Ability
DOI: 10.1007/s10649-023-10279-0
ISSN: 0013-1954
1573-0816
Abstract: This paper combines recent developments in theories of knowledge (complex dynamic systems), technologies (embodied interactions), and research tools (multimodal data collection and analysis) to offer new insights into how conceptual mathematical understanding can emerge. A complex dynamic system view models mathematics learning in terms of a multimodal agent who encounters a set of task constraints. The learning process in this context includes destabilizing a systemic configuration (for example, coordination of eye and hand movements) and forming new dynamic stability adapted to the task constraints. To test this model empirically, we applied a method developed to study complex systems, recurrence quantification analysis (RQA), to investigate students' eye-hand dynamics during a touchscreen mathematics activity for the concept of proportionality. We found that across participants (n = 32), fluently coordinated hand-movement solutions coincided with more stable and predictable gaze patterns. We present a case study of a prototypical participant's hand-eye RQA and audio-video data to show how the student's cognitive system transitioned out of prior coordination reflective of additive thinking into a new coordination that can ground multiplicative thinking. These findings constitute empirical substantiation in mathematics education research for cognition as a complex system transitioning among dynamic equilibria.
Abstractor: As Provided
Entry Date: 2025
Accession Number: EJ1462309
Database: ERIC
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Abstract:This paper combines recent developments in theories of knowledge (complex dynamic systems), technologies (embodied interactions), and research tools (multimodal data collection and analysis) to offer new insights into how conceptual mathematical understanding can emerge. A complex dynamic system view models mathematics learning in terms of a multimodal agent who encounters a set of task constraints. The learning process in this context includes destabilizing a systemic configuration (for example, coordination of eye and hand movements) and forming new dynamic stability adapted to the task constraints. To test this model empirically, we applied a method developed to study complex systems, recurrence quantification analysis (RQA), to investigate students' eye-hand dynamics during a touchscreen mathematics activity for the concept of proportionality. We found that across participants (n = 32), fluently coordinated hand-movement solutions coincided with more stable and predictable gaze patterns. We present a case study of a prototypical participant's hand-eye RQA and audio-video data to show how the student's cognitive system transitioned out of prior coordination reflective of additive thinking into a new coordination that can ground multiplicative thinking. These findings constitute empirical substantiation in mathematics education research for cognition as a complex system transitioning among dynamic equilibria.
ISSN:0013-1954
1573-0816
DOI:10.1007/s10649-023-10279-0