Unpacking Teachers’ Transformative Agency Following Digital Fabrication Workshops on Making Mathematical Manipulatives

Digital fabrication (DF) presents innovative opportunities for reimagining the use of manipulatives in mathematics education. Manipulatives are fundamental for helping students grasp abstract mathematical concepts. However, integrating DF into teaching practice requires more than just access to technology; it demands a shift in teachers’ transformative agency. This paper presents the experiences of eight teachers who participated in a series of eight full-day workshops over a span of one year, focusing on making mathematical manipulatives using DF. Through interviews, the teachers offered insights into their transformative agency, detailing their sense of purpose, competency, autonomy, and reflexivity. Our results highlight the complexities, opportunities, and challenges encountered by these teachers as they navigated the integration of DF into their teaching practice. Our study led to three key implications: DF enabels teachers to create manipulatives that are pedagogically relevant; DF-created manipulatives support changes in teaching practices, showcasing teachers' transformative agency; and there is a critical need for supportive infrastructure to facilitate teachers becoming makers in education. The paper underscores the potential of DF to transform mathematics education while emphasizing the importance of providing sustained support to realize this potential fully.