Designing meta-resources for mathematics teachers in the context of curriculum reforms: the case of digital technology use and student autonomy in France

The study presented in this paper concerns the design and evaluation of curriculum material that supports mathematics teachers’ understanding and enactment of reform curricula and innovative teaching practices. Our focus is on curriculum material supporting mathematics teachers’ practices combining the use of digital technology and the development of student autonomy. We refer to the theoretical framework of the Documentational Approach to Didactics, which considers teachers’ documentation work as a central lever for the evolution of teachers’ practices. Our study took place in the context of curriculum reforms in France, which called on teachers to combine the use of digital technology with the development of student autonomy in their practices. We investigate in this paper the design of a meta-resource with the aim of supporting teachers’ documentation work in this context. The documentation work ranged from choosing a lesson plan offered on a website to designing a completely new lesson. Using a design research approach, we conducted two design and evaluation cycles, involving different groups of researchers and teachers, and we analysed these design processes and their outcomes. The researchers used particular categories to distinguish between different forms of autonomy, and criteria concerning the articulation between student autonomy and digital technologies. The teachers provided elements concerning the features of a lesson plan facilitating its appropriation, and more generally related to their actual design work. Our results illustrate how a multidisciplinary team of researchers can collaborate with teachers to design ‘meta-resources’ supporting teachers’ documentation work in a context of education reform.