Chapter 2: Humans-With-Media: Transforming Communication in the Classroom

In this chapter, I discuss how communication in the classroom can be viewed from a different perspective if cognitive processes are seen as partially generated by media. In particular, the notion of technologies of intelligence is introduced as a way of overcoming the dichotomy between humans and technology. An example from a mathematics classroom for biology majors at the State University of São Paulo at Rio Claro, Brazil, is presented. In this course, functions and derivative are the main concepts. The data presented are from an episode in which there is a transition from the work with functions to derivative. Such a transition is based, among other factors, on a rich debate in which the students use metaphors that are related to their work with graphing calculators. I claim that the use of technology, together with pedagogies that are in resonance with this new medium, reorganize thinking.