computer-based mathematics lesson using activity theory

This paper outlines how one can use activity theory (AT) as an analytical framework to understand tool use and its attendant developmental impact in context by selecting object-oriented activity as the unit of analysis. While an understanding of object-oriented activity is central to activity theory, the notion of object is a frequently debated and often misunderstood one. The conceptual confusion surrounding the object arises both from difficulties related to translating the original Russian conceptualisation of object-oriented activity into English as well as from the different interpretations of the object currently in use within two contemporary approaches in activity theory. Further compounding the understanding of this notion as it relates to pedagogical practices within schools is its use as a predominantly interventionist tool in work settings to understand transformation rather than as a theory to explain activity in classroom settings. This paper sets out to develop a methodology for studying the object of mathematics lessons by exploring notions of object-oriented activity, before discussing the conceptual challenges arising from its use in two contemporary versions of activity theory. To this end, the paper traces the historical development of the object through Leontiev (1975/78; 1981) an