Search

We examine teachers' reflections on incorporating digital instructional resources (DIRs) into their mathematics teaching. We analyze qualitative interviews with 39 elementary school teachers from four educational contexts: Belgium, Finland, Sweden, and the U.S., using a framework proposed by Pepin et al. (Int J Math Educ 46: 645-661, 2017) to consider opportunities for DIRs to shift elements of teaching and learning in potentially transformative ways. Teachers described three major domains of teaching practice where they used DIRs: (a) class instruction, (b) student practice, and (c) professional participation. We found that teachers readily used DIRs during class instruction and to support student practice, guided by their existing instructional goals, which were shaped in part by education structures in the context. Few teachers incorporated DIRs in ways that transformed typical learning spaces. We also found that DIRs impacted several aspects of teachers' professional practices, including professional learning and collaboration. In particular, participation in social media and resource sharing altered the nature of and ways teachers participated in their own professional learning. We assert that efforts to use DIRs to stimulate change need to begin with an understanding of teachers' current practices and use our findings to identify three potential levers that might support movement toward change.

The most commonly used Finnish mathematics teacher guides (Grades 1-6) are investigated so as to determine what kind of resource they constitute for teachers in planning and enacting mathematics teaching and what kind of mathematics classroom they promote. The structure and the main contents of the guides were found to be quite homogeneous. The nature of communication was mostly descriptive, but the separate activities suggested for each lesson were quite explicitly described. Suggested activities, such as mental calculation tasks and homework assignment, were typically motivated by non-specific rationales, and many activities seemed to be taken for granted in the Finnish mathematics classroom culture. The results add both to knowledge about how to analyse teacher guides and to knowledge about Finnish educational features.

In the current paper, we present an analysis of a case study in which we have followed Swedish primary teachers who voluntarily began using translated Finnish curriculum materials, i.e. a textbook and teacher guide, in order to reform their mathematics teaching. The multifaceted data, consisting of questionnaires, interviews, protocols from collegial meetings and classroom observations, were gathered during the period 2010-2014. The analysis of the interplay within this cross-cultural setting reveals the special characteristics and the challenges existing in practice. Both the experienced and inexperienced teachers offloaded a great deal of their agency to the materials in order to become familiar with the ideas they mediated. Yet, the lack of a clear rationale behind the organization of the materials, as well as the suggested activities connected to taken-for-granted features of the Finnish teaching tradition, made fruitful interaction problematic. The changes teachers made in their classroom practice were tightly connected to the support offered in the materials, without which the teachers abandoned their new classroom patterns. Based on the results of this study, we suggest a number of general aspects that we regard as important to consider when implementing curriculum materials developed within another cultural-educational context.

Background:This paper analyzes the pedagogical studies of Finnish and South Korean physics teacher education programs that guide teacher educators to support student teachers’ to build readiness for acting as professional teachers in a secondary school classroom. Research on the domains and origin of teachers’ professional knowledge provides a framework for analyzing the programs and the potential support of the program for becoming a professional teacher.Material and methods:First, the aims of the pedagogical studies are categorized, resulting in ten themes that characterize the programs. Second, the programs are analyzed in the framework domains of teacher knowledge and the origins the knowledge is suggested to learn. The domains of knowledge include the knowledge needed in consuming and producing educational research, general pedagogical knowledge, and pedagogical content knowledge.Results:Distribution among the four domains of teacher knowledge varies in Finnish and South Korean programs, reflecting the differences in the national education cultures.Conclusions:Pedagogical studies in Korean physics teacher education are more theoretically oriented than their Finnish counterparts. However, the Finnish and Korean programs do bear similarities, such as an emphasis on reflection and a research orientation, as a part of their pedagogical studies.

This descriptive article aims to discuss the development of Finnish PhD education in science and mathematics education research over the past 20 years. First, the general aims and structure of PhD education at the national level are introduced. Doctoral studies seek to develop research knowledge and skills as well as the capability to produce novel scientific knowledge. Second, the development of PhD education in the Finnish context of science and mathematics education research is discussed. For the past 20 years, there has been a special focus on improving PhD education through national-level graduate schools and international collaboration. Finally, the recent changes in PhD education, such as the replacement of doctoral programmes at local universities, is discussed through the case of the University of Helsinki.

In this article, we outline some of the main characteristics of the mathematics education in the Finnish educational context. In Finland, teachers are educated to be autonomous and reflective academic experts at both primary and secondary school levels. This policy means there is a strong emphasis on teachers’ independence and autonomous responsibility and it also has many consequences for teaching mathematics.

In this chapter, we outline some of the main characteristics of the mathematics education in the Finnish educational context. In Finland, at both primary and secondary school levels teachers are educated to be autonomous and reflective academic experts.