In G. Kaiser (Ed.), Proceedings of the 13th International Congress on Mathematical Education. Hamburg: University of Hamburg.
Originating in the fields of kinesiology and sports science, the theory of ecological dynamics draws on ecological psychology and dynamical-systems theory to explain processes of motor-action learning in sociocultural contexts. From this systemic view, learning is the achievement of new task-oriented dynamical stability between an agent and its environment, and teaching is the sociocultural orchestration of constraints that steer the agent toward developing new motor-action coordination. Ecological dynamics could therefore frame empirical investigations into students’ multimodal behaviors as they engage in solving physical-interaction problems designed to ground mathematical concepts. I summarize analyses of integrated clinical, action-logging, and eye-tracking data from a design-research project centered on the Mathematical Imagery Trainer. I propose that recent technological innovations for fostering as well as analyzing multimodal action may revive Piagetian scholarship and design.