Semiotic Tools for Evaluating Electronic Mathematical Texts

By Wajeeh Daher.

Published by Ubiquitous Learning: An International Journal

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Article: Print	$US10.00
Article: Electronic	$US5.00

Social semiotic approaches, in the frame of functional grammar, have been used to analyse and evaluate verbal texts in general, verbal mathematical texts and visual texts. Formal semiotic approaches have been used in interface design and to describe the pragmatics of information systems. We use these various approaches to describe a system for analysing electronic mathematical texts, where electronic mathematical texts are mathematical texts which populate the internet and embed software components in the form of interactive applets. The need for this system is evident in the widepreading of elecronic mathematical texts in the internet, in the popularity of such texts among teachers and in the scarcity of suggested tools which analyze and evaluate electronic mathematical texts.
The system includes the following aspects from social semiotics: user’s processes, applet’s processes, mathematical objects, interpersonal relations which the verbal text, as well as the dynamic component, imply, and the justification expected from the users of the electronic text. From the other side it consists of four formal semiotic levels: a syntactic level, a semantic level, a pragmatic level and a social level. The developed tools may serve researchers of mathematics education and teachers of mathematics as well as other agents of mathematics education.

Keywords:	Electronic Mathematical Texts, Semiotic Analysis, Formal Semiotics, Social Semiotics, Applets, Semiotic Tools

Ubiquitous Learning: An International Journal, Volume 1, Issue 1, pp.1-8. Article: Print (Spiral Bound). Article: Electronic (PDF File; 1.572MB).

Dr. Wajeeh Daher

Head of Mathematics Department, Department of Mathematics, Al - Qasemi Academic College of Education, Nazareth, Israel

I have academic degrees in mathematics, mathematics education, technological education, economics and accounting. My interests vary from scientific zones to Literature. My research interests include distance learning, alternative methods to teach mathematics and teachers’ education. I wrote articles that probe the using of technology in the mathematics classroom, the using of history in the mathematics classroom and the using of literature and language. I practiced and researched distance learning. Nowadays I participate with another colleague in introducing the cellular phone into the middle school mathematics classroom and in finding the influence of this introduction on students learning. I believe in life-long learning as well as in life long self renewing. Self renewing can be done through adapting new technologies and media in our learning and everyday practices.