Determining social and sociomathematical norms in 3d virtual learning environments: Mathlife case

As a result of technological advancements, the use of 3D learning environment in teaching has become increasingly widespread these days. For this reason, in order to help users explore the relationships between real life and mathematics, a virtual learning environment which is called MathLife was designed through a project supported by TUBITAK with a project number of 113R008. In order to use these 3D environments effectively, determining the norms that are unwritten but followed regularly by individuals as normative patterns during the knowledge construction process has become important. Thus, important matters to be considered in design and implementation of instructional activities will be obtained. The aim of the present study is to determine the social and sociomathematical norms observed in MathLife three dimensional virtual learning environment. The research was conducted at a primary school in Trabzon in 2015-2016 academic year by mean of case study method. The study group consisted of 10 students attending grade 7. Field notes, semi structured interviews and records of computer screen images taken when each student was performing real-life scenarios that required mathematical skills were used as data collection tools. The study lasted for 6 weeks. NVivo 9.0 qualitative data analysis software was used to analyse the data, and content analysis was conducted. Study group students were divided into two groups with five students in each, and real-life scenarios were applied in two different sessions each week. Computer screen images of each student were recorded and the social interaction patterns followed by students via their avatars during the process of fulfilling the requirements of real-life scenarios were determined. The researcher provided technical assistance to the students when needed and took field notes during the application process. After all the real-life scenarios were applied, semi-structured interviews were conducted with each student in the following week. According to the research results, 12 social norms such as communicating by written chat, express the answers freely and using private communication tool in order to prevent deciphering the correct answers and 7 sociomathematical norms such as making statement and justification, obtaining mathematical valid answers and using the budget effectively were determined in MathLife 3D virtual learning environment.