Due to rapid social and economic development in China over the last three decades, information and communication technologies (ICTs) have become increasingly available in Chinese classrooms and families. However, there is a lack of research regarding Chinese students’ use of ICTs in mathematics learning. In this study, we examined how Chinese students access, use, and perceive ICTs in learning mathematics. To this end, a conceptual framework for ICTs and the role of ICTs in students’ learning of mathematics was established. Using a mixed-methods approach, we collected data from 223 students in four randomly selected secondary schools in Shanghai through a questionnaire survey, followed by classroom observations and interviews with students and teachers. The results revealed that various ICTs are widely accessible in Shanghai classrooms and students overall have a positive view about the role of ICTs in their mathematics learning, especially in problem solving and in learning geometry. When learning mathematics at home, students used handheld technological devices more frequently than non-portable devices. Furthermore, there were significant differences between different students in terms of school performance levels, grade levels, and genders in their use of ICTs in learning mathematics. In particular, students from high-performing schools had more access to various ICTs but used them less frequently than their peers from ordinary schools. Suggestions and implications of the findings are discussed at the end of the paper.

Teacher–student interactions are critical for effective mathematics teaching and learning. Certain technologies, especially dynamic geometry software (DGS), can have a great impact on interactions between teachers and students. In Chinese mathematics educational environments, we selected three mathematics teachers as examples to analyze how DGS impacts their method of teaching and feedback and what role it plays in their interactions with students. Based on the data, we found mathematics to be the main focus for Chinese teachers, even though DGS was widely used in their lessons. DGS was mainly used as a projector to present geometric properties. This implies that the interactivity of the DGS was simply used for pressing buttons on the screen during lessons. Although teachers may have used DGS for many years, they still lack sufficient skills to integrate this software into mathematics teaching.

This paper focuses on how Chinese mathematics teachers integrate dynamic geometry software in lessons. Instrumental Orchestration (IO) lens and its categorization are used to analyze 9 Chinese mathematics lessons. As a result, it shows that most orchestration types can be identified in this study with some different characteristics observed. And a more classic way is identified for Chinese teachers to use DGS which indicates DGS is assimilated into the current teaching process. Teachers more use dragging mode to show the initial and final state of the figures. We also re-organize IO types and divided explain-the-screen into T-explain-the-screen and S-explain-the-screen based on who can be the explainer. This indicates that these teachers try to change their teaching process from lecturing to facilitating student’s learning.

The publication of this article unfortunately contained a mistake. There was an error in one reference, correct it should be.