There are always tradeoffs when technology is used in science classrooms
and laboratories. In this study, there was a tradeoff between emphasizing
conceptual understanding of physics or mastering the use of simple and
sophisticated tools and experiencing the use of different measurement
tools. Similarly, in mathematization, the tradeoff was between model
construction and model evaluation. In this study, we decided to focus on
conceptual understanding and on model evaluation because these are
valued in the science and maths education communities.
Additionally, it is important to emphasize that the use of technology in
and by itself does not guarantee that this technology is used as a cognitive
tool rather than a digital resource (refer to Songer, 2007), and much of
this depends on teachers’ epistemologies. In this study, many of the
drawbacks of using MBL can be attributed to the maths and physics
teachers’ epistemologies, as indicted in assertion 3. Thus, there is a need
for equipping teachers with appropriate theoretical frameworks and
helping them to align their epistemologies with the cognitive demands
and opportunities provided by MBL.