Designing Mathematical Tasks Within Mobile Learning Environments

Abstract

Designing and implementing tasks for student mathematical learning has been well researched; however, the task design principles within mobile technology environments that promote students’ mathematical learning have received limited consideration. This study shares a theoretical framework for designing and implementing cognitively demanding mathematical tasks for the use of mobile devices. The framework consists of three phases: Content and technological environment evaluation, Task design, and Task implementation. In the content and technological environment evaluation phase, teachers will define the lesson objective, technological environment, and types of investigations. This chapter provides a collection of ready-made resources for m-learning and m-learning implementation ideas that teachers can use during the second phase, Task design. The last phase in the model, Task implementation, involves defining rules, roles, and responsibilities, as well as anticipated social interactions and cognitive processes. This framework addresses different phases and variables for designing and implementing a mathematical task for m-learning. It can be adapted for other subject areas as it discusses general task design and implementation process. The ready-made resources for m-learning that are collected in this chapter can be found on the authors’ websites, where they will be periodically updated.