Search

Technology is available and accessible in many mathematics classrooms. Adopting technology to support teaching and learning requires teachers to change their teaching practices. This paper reports the responses of a diverse cohort of 92 secondary mathematics teachers who chose to respond to an Australian state-wide survey (Mathematics with Technology Perceptions Survey) developed using a Theory of Planned Behaviour framework. The items discussed in this paper targeted mathematics teachers’ perceptions of possible barriers and enablers to their intention to use technology in their teaching. The responses are varied but, overall, strength of agreement with enablers outweighed agreement with perceived barriers. However, it is clear that despite an overall positive attitude towards the use of technology for teaching mathematics, some perceived barriers to change are notable. It is, therefore, helpful if those responsible for professional development, promoting the use of technology, recognise and address these barriers as well as working to strengthening enablers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Building on the papers in this special issue as well as on our own experience and research, we try to shed light on the construct of example spaces and on how it can inform research and practice in the teaching and learning of mathematical concepts. Consistent with our way of working, we delay definition until after appropriate reader experience has been brought to the surface and several ‘examples’ have been discussed. Of special interest is the notion of accessibility of examples: an individual’s access to example spaces depends on conditions and is a valuable window on a deep, personal, situated structure. Through the notions of dimensions of possible variation and range of permissible change, we consider ways in which examples exemplify and how attention needs to be directed so as to emphasise examplehood (generality) rather than particularity of mathematical objects. The paper ends with some remarks about example spaces in mathematics education itself. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper indicates that prospective teachers’ familiarity with theoretical models of students’ ways of thinking may contribute to their mathematical subject matter knowledge. This study introduces the intuitive rules theory to address the intuitive, same sides-same angles solutions that prospective teachers of secondary school mathematics come up with, and the proficiency they acquired during the course “Psychological aspects of mathematics education”. The paper illustrates how drawing participants’ attention to their own erroneous applications of same sides-same angles ideas to hexagons, challenged and developed their mathematical knowledge. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We draw on two studies of mathematics departments in 11-18 comprehensive maintained schools in England to compare and contrast the insights provided by differing theoretical perspectives. In one study, activity theory was used to describe common features of the work of three departments. In the other, a mathematics department was viewed and analysed as a complex system. In both cases, it was the learning of the departments as systems rather than of individuals that was of interest. The affordances and limitations of the analytical perspectives are discussed. Taken as a whole, this paper opens up the workings of school mathematics departments in a country which has a strong department culture. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper we examine the possibility of differentiating between two types of nonexamples. The first type, intuitive nonexamples, consists of nonexamples which are intuitively accepted as such. That is, children immediately identify them as nonexamples. The second type, non-intuitive nonexamples, consists of nonexamples that bear a significant similarity to valid examples of the concept, and consequently are more often mistakenly identified as examples. We describe and discuss these notions and present a study regarding kindergarten children’s grasp of nonexamples of triangles. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper we describe learners being asked to generate examples of new mathematical concepts, thus developing and exploring example spaces. First we elaborate the theoretical background for learner generated examples (LGEs) in learning new concepts. The data we then present provides evidence of the possibility of learning new concepts through a symbiosis of induction and abduction from experience and deduction from the relationships generated in exemplification. In other words, experience can be organised in such a way that shifts of understanding take place as a result of learners’ own actions. Actions, in this context, include mental acts of organisational reflection. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study is grounded in the theoretical position that solving problems in different ways creates mathematical connections when learning and teaching mathematics. It acknowledges the central role teachers play in providing students with learning opportunities, and it is based on the empirical finding that mathematics teachers are reluctant to solve problems in different ways in the classroom. In this paper we address the contradiction between theory-based recommendations and school mathematics practice. Based on analysis of individual interviews and two group meetings with 12 Israeli secondary school mathematics teachers, we demonstrate that in the context of multiple-solution connecting tasks this discrepancy is caused by the situated nature of the teachers’ knowledge. We also reveal the complex relationship between different types of teacher knowledge and argue the significance of developing a common language between members of the mathematics education community, including teacher educators and researchers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]