Making a Difference with Attention to Content, Technology, and Scale: A Session Honoring the Memory of Jim Kaput

Abstract

The theme of this year's ICLS, "making a difference," resonates with the life-work of our dear colleague, Jim Kaput, who unexpectedly passed away in summer 2005. Kaput's approach to making a difference was grounded in the Learning Sciences and distinctively attended to the nature of mathematical content, the role of technology, and the problematic of scale. In this symposium, we honor his memory by discussing the current projects of three investigators who continue to drive Kaput's vision forward. These projects address: (1) "foundations for the future" based in a deep reconceptualization of mathematical content (2) technology as representational and connectivity infrastructure that democratizes access to mathematics worth knowing and (3) scale as a challenging problematic essential to "making a difference."