What really struck me was how versatile the idea of tool is
in terms of its relationships to other concepts:
- When does a tool become media (and vice versa)
- When does a tool become art (and vice versa)
- The tool as an extension of the body which can then extend the tool, and so on (which I think touches on the recursivity that Joyce mentioned during our group discussions); yet, as Susan pointed out, the tool can also distance the body from itself, and from the natural world.
- Tools as vehicles/conduits for story telling (the activities with the stick maps, wooden relief map, knotting) – related to this, what Florence noted about how educators usually remove the (his)tory of the tool when they teach with it in mathematics classes (how *did* the protractor come to be?)
As well, it was interesting to consider the tool as a means
of thinking, how the design of the tool affords and constrains that thinking,
and can reveal/shape concepts but not perhaps as the user/teacher anticipates.
As Jean-Francois noted, the tools carry things that we might not want or
anticipate.
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