Designing a tool for authoring digital problem-solving tasks in an app – an integrative learning design study

Mense, Sophie; Höveler, Karina; Blohm, Pauline Anne; Willemsen, Lisa Constanze

Abstract

Students need possibilities to discover mathematical structures through experiencing variation in sequenced tasks to develop a conceptual understanding of a mathematical content. Therefore, task designers should be able to design appropriate tasks and tasks sequences in digital learning environments like apps and fit them to the learners’ needs. This paper illustrates the design and research process of the mathematic educational app ‘Kombi’ developed in a design research project following the Integrative Learning Design Framework (ILDF). The paper focuses on the research-based development of a tool to digitally author combinatorial problem-solving tasks and reports on its microcyclical and multi-methodical development and evaluation. It gives a comprehensive insight into the implementation of the respective design principle and elements in ‘Kombi’ and presents results of formative testing by mathematics educational researchers, teachers and pre-service teachers.