| Little is known about the ways in which teachers take on research-based resources and adapt them to their own needs. This study focused on the manner in which three teachers who were participating in a research project on the learning of algebra with CAS technology spontaneously adapted the resources that were designed specifically by the researchers for use in the project. Analysis of the classroom-based observations of teaching practice showed that shaping occurred with respect to all three key features (the mathematics, the students, and the technology) of our researcher-designed resources, whether our intentions with respect to those features were explicitly stated or implicitly suggested. The study also found that embarking with the same set of tasksequences, and sharing the same goal of participating in a research project aimed at developing the technical and theoretical knowledge of algebra students within a CAS-supported environment, can lead to quite different uses of the resources. The teachers brought into the study their own beliefs, knowledge, and customary ways of interacting with their students. The results highlight the differential role that the same resources can play vis-à-vis the dialectical processes of 'documentational genesis' whereby resources are viewed as both shaping and being shaped by teaching practice. |
