Identifying types of mediating artefacts and their interactions in an inquiry-based teacher-researcher collaboration in mathematics

Abstract Inquiry-based teacher-researcher collaborations (ITRC) and artefacts that mediate such collaborations have increasingly attracted attention in research in the mathematics education field. To broaden the knowledge of artefacts mediating ITRC, this study investigates multiple types of and interactions between mediating artefacts when teachers and researchers collaborate to plan and analyse mathematics teaching. The data consist of video recordings from a 1 year research project in mathematics involving four elementary mathematics teachers and two researchers in mathematics education. Twenty five mediating artefacts were identified, categorised into 6 types using Engeström’s (2007) framework, and analysed in terms of interaction patterns. The findings identify that both the number of artefacts and the extent of their interactions varied due to the object of activity. Planning activities involved substantially richer mediation than analysis activities, and activities focusing on mathematical tasks and students’ knowledge and skills involved more artefacts and interactions than those focusing on teachers’ action. The results highlight the complexity of mediating artefacts and emphasise the importance of intentional design in ITRC, particularly in activities requiring the analysis of teaching and student learning.