Navigating Mathematics Learning with Technologies in the Age of AI

Dear Colleagues,

The hi-tech developments we witness daily show that we are standing at the dawn of a revolution that involves society as a whole and, therefore, also educational contexts and disciplines, such as mathematics. This is—quite rightly—provoking an epistemological, practical, ethical, and political rethink of the role of technology in education and of its use in the teaching–learning process. Technologies (digital and/or artificial) constitute a continuum: they are all designed or adapted to create, transmit, and preserve knowledge from one generation to the next. In this sense, the technological artifact is a medium, constantly in dialectic with both the didactic purpose and the epistemological paradigm of the discipline. 

The disruptive arrival of AI makes this historical moment full of uncertainties. Unlike the mere use of a tool as an artifact, with AI it is no longer just the human being who asks the questions. AI-based software (apparently) asks, self-corrects, interprets, and reasons in ways more flexible than any human product has ever done. Have machines, the product of technique, learned to think? Are we at a point of no return, where education—a cultural process between human beings—might become a post-human process, in which knowledge is transmitted by an ensemble of data, algorithms, and structures?

Today, more than before, the choice to integrate technology into educational environments seems as necessary as it is problematic (despite their inherently neutral nature), marked by a plurality of unavoidable issues: technological tools/media are both a pervasive product of the market economy and a vector of social change; they are not designed with pedagogical and didactic aims, yet they inevitably influence the daily practices of teachers and students; they can support certain processes while risking inhibiting others. What should guide the use of technologies in education? How can we integrate paradigms, practices, and processes for learning mathematics with these tools?

The purpose of this Special Issue is to gather contributions that consciously rethink the didactic use of technologies in the AI-integrated era, positioning themselves critically with respect to educational purposes and the reasons behind the choice of tools, with a clear reference to mathematics and its teaching and learning. We therefore welcome all contributions that integrate digital and/or artificial tools into teaching practice including (but not limited to) the following: apps, smartphones, coding software, computer simulations, videos, podcasts, VR, e-tutoring tools, AI models, and tools with AI integrations.

Contributions may address themes including, but not limited to, the following:

• The new role of digital technologies in the process of learning mathematics in the AI integrated-era, also involving ethical, socio-cultural and political issues; 
• Challenges, risks and opportunities of technologies for mathematics learning and the key issues to be addressed by educators and/or researchers in the field;
• Theoretical reflections and literature reviews focused on positioning, paradigm shifts and trends in mathematics education at the beginning of AI-integrated era;

Empirical research on new and non-traditional use of technologies in mathematics learning, such as pilot/exploratory studies, case studies, confirmatory/validation studies, replication studies, longitudinal studies.

Dr. Giuseppe Bianco
Dr. Gaia Turconi
Guest Editors

Daniele De Giorgi
Guest Editor Assistant

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• STEM and STEAM education
• mathematics education
• mathematics learning
• technology in mathematics education
• technology in mathematics learning
• technology-enhanced learning
• artificial intelligence (AI) in education
• digital tools in education
• artifacts, tools and mindtools
• epistemology of mathematics education