Anthony Bill

Within a larger study of a Year 9 class investigating sample size students examined explicitly the legitimacy of the data generated by a Fathom die simulation. Instrumental genesis – the process where students adopt a tool as their own – is an established analytical framework used with computer algebra systems (CAS), and this framework has potential application in electronic probability simulations. In addition to a examination of students adopting the simulation’s procedures and features, any reservations students have regarding the legitimacy of the data generated may act as a potential impediment to learning. More recently instrumental genesis has been extended to acknowledge the role of the teacher and the classroom environment through a process defined as instrumental orchestration.