scholarly journals Frame shifting as a challenge to integrating computational thinking in secondary mathematics education

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Wendy Huang

In this study, we adapted the notion of framing, a theoretical construct that refers to a person’s expectations about social spaces (Goffman, 1974), to investigate whether teachers viewed computational thinking (CT) according to subject-specific frames. This case study aimed to understand how teachers make connections between CT and subjects targeted for integration. Epistemological framing contributed new insights on why teachers connected CT in different ways to different subjects: frame shifting focused teachers’ attention on goals and activities specific to each subject. As teachers attended to a subject’s particularities, they drew upon different epistemic resources to construct their descriptions of CT. Our participants (n=6) were teachers who taught 7th-12th grade computing and mathematics as individual subjects. Qualitative coding of interview transcripts revealed that teachers' ideas about CT in computing were strongly influenced by computer programming while their ideas about CT in mathematics corresponded with familiar ways of teaching and learning mathematics. However, rather than accepting the fragmentation of CT as the price of integration into individual subjects, we propose limiting the scope when defining CT. We explain how this non-intuitive strategy can preserve the coherence of CT and how it might be used in CT professional development (PD) for mathematics teachers.

Author(s):  
Yeping Li ◽  
Alan H. Schoenfeld

AbstractMathematics is fundamental for many professions, especially science, technology, and engineering. Yet, mathematics is often perceived as difficult and many students leave disciplines in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) as a result, closing doors to scientific, engineering, and technological careers. In this editorial, we argue that how mathematics is traditionally viewed as “given” or “fixed” for students’ expected acquisition alienates many students and needs to be problematized. We propose an alternative approach to changes in mathematics education and show how the alternative also applies to STEM education.


Author(s):  
Nguyễn Thị Tân An ◽  
Tạ Thị Minh Phương ◽  
Nguyễn Thị Duyến ◽  
Trần Ngọc Đức Toàn ◽  
Trần Dũng

The teaching approaches of mathematics derived from humanity involve positive interactions that support meaningful and relevant learning. The main objective of the teaching approaches is to prepare students with the competence to solve daily life problems and one of the most important tools is using authentic tasks. There are different opinions on "task authenticity" in teaching and learning mathematics. This study examined how secondary mathematics preservice teachers think of the authenticity of tasks. Drawing on a framework of tasks authenticity adopted from the research literature, we analyzed PSTs’ response to the criteria of task authenticity. The results show that the PSTs attended to the event feature and the tool feature of task, but overlooked other features. Implications for teacher training are discussed.


2019 ◽  
Vol 8 (1) ◽  
pp. 7-21
Author(s):  
Lynette DeAun Guzmán

In this conceptual piece, I explore complex and contradictory conversations during an idea mapping task in which prospective elementary teachers interrogated dominant discourses within mathematics education, such as “mathematics is everywhere” and “being a math person.” I argue that this exercise of engaging with contradictions provided prospective teachers with opportunities to tease out nuances for reconstructing ideas that generate new perspectives for teaching and learning mathematics. Sharing my experience with the idea mapping task as a case study, I offer an alternative role for mathematics teacher educators to consider-as facilitators who create spaces for prospective teachers to interrogate complex and contradictory conversations within mathematics education.


1995 ◽  
Vol 26 (2) ◽  
pp. 184-188
Author(s):  
Steven R. Williams

Scholarly work in mathematics education has recently begun to look deeply at what mathematics is. This increased interest in what was once the purview of philosophers of mathematics grows from a recognition that both teaching and learning mathematics are intimately connected with doing mathematics.


Author(s):  
Daria Rovan ◽  
Dubravka Glasnović Gracin ◽  
Goran Trupčević

In Croatia, as in many other countries, primary education teachers are trained as generalists and mathematics is only one of several different subjects that they teach, so when choosing their profession they are not necessarily drawn by their interest in becoming a mathematics teacher. Still, it is very important that they have a positive attitude towards mathematics and are motivated to teach it to their students. The aim of this study was to explore whether pre-service teachers with different achievement goal profiles have different beliefs about mathematics and teaching and learning mathematics. The participants were 325 pre-service primary education students. The research was conducted in three waves, during the students’ first, third and fifth year of study. In their first year of studies, we collected data on the achievement goals in mathematics that they had in high school, and self-efficacy in mathematics. Epistemic beliefs, subjective value of mathematics and mathematics anxiety were assessed at all measurement points. In their third and fifth year of study, we also collected data on the participants’ mathematics teaching efficacy beliefs and, in their fifth year, beliefs on teaching and learning mathematics. The results of the cluster analysis showed that we could group pre-service primary education teachers into three groups according to the profiles of their achievement goals in high school: (1) all goals high, (2) all goals low, (3) mastery orientation. The results showed differences between the groups in terms of motivation for learning mathematics at the beginning of their studies. However, these differences tend to be less prominent over time. At the end of their studies, they do not differ in their mathematics teaching efficacy beliefs or their beliefs about teaching and learning mathematics.Key words: achievement goals; mathematics education; motivation; teacher education; teachers’ beliefs---U Hrvatskoj, kao i u mnogim drugim zemljama, osnovnoškolski učitelji korisnici su generaliziranoga obrazovanja i Matematika je samo jedan od nekoliko različitih predmeta koje poučavaju, tako da ih pri odabiru profesije nužno ne privlači interes da budu učitelji matematike. Ipak, njihov pozitivan stav prema matematici i motivacija za poučavanje učenika matematici vrlo su važni. Cilj je ovoga istraživanja ispitati imaju li učitelji s različitim profilima ciljeva postignuća različita uvjerenja o matematici i poučavanju i učenju matematike. U istraživanju je sudjelovalo 325 studenata, budućih učitelja primarnoga obrazovanja. Istraživanje je provedeno u tri ciklusa: tijekom prve, treće i pete godine studija ispitanika. Na prvoj godini studija prikupljali smo podatke o ciljevima postignuća u matematici koje su sudionici imali u srednjoj školi i o samo-učinkovitosti u matematici. Epistemološka uvjerenja, subjektivnu vrijednost matematike i tjeskobu procjenjivali smo u svim ciklusima mjerenja. Na trećoj i petoj godini studija sudionika također smo prikupljali podatke o njihovim uvjerenjima o učinkovitosti u poučavanju matematike i, na petoj godini, uvjerenja o poučavanju i učenju matematike. Rezultati klaster analize pokazali su da se budući učitelji, studenti primarnoga obrazovanja, mogu grupirati u tri skupine prema profilima ciljeva postignuća u srednjoj školi: (1) svi visoki ciljevi, (2) svi niski ciljevi i (3) orijentacija prema vještini. Dobiveni rezultati pokazali su razlike između skupina s obzirom na motivaciju za učenje matematike na početku studija. Ipak, te su razlike manje uočljive tijekom vremena. Na kraju studija sudionici se ne razlikuju u svojim uvjerenjima o učinkovitosti u poučavanju matematike niti u svojim uvjerenjima o učenju matematike.Ključne riječi: ciljevi postignuća; matematičko obrazovanje; motivacija; obrazovanje učitelja; uvjerenja učitelja


1987 ◽  
Vol 71 (458) ◽  
pp. 314
Author(s):  
Paul Ernest ◽  
Peter G. Dean

SAGE Open ◽  
2016 ◽  
Vol 6 (4) ◽  
pp. 215824401667137 ◽  
Author(s):  
Judah Paul Makonye ◽  
Josiah Fakude

The study focused on the errors and misconceptions that learners manifest in the addition and subtraction of directed numbers. Skemp’s notions of relational and instrumental understanding of mathematics and Sfard’s participation and acquisition metaphors of learning mathematics informed the study. Data were collected from 35 Grade 8 learners’ exercise book responses to directed numbers tasks as well as through interviews. Content analysis was based on Kilpatrick et al.’s strands of mathematical proficiency. The findings were as follows: 83.3% of learners have misconceptions, 16.7% have procedural errors, 67% have strategic errors, and 28.6% have logical errors on addition and subtraction of directed numbers. The sources of the errors seemed to be lack of reference to mediating artifacts such as number lines or other real contextual situations when learning to deal with directed numbers. Learners seemed obsessed with positive numbers and addition operation frames—the first number ideas they encountered in school. They could not easily accommodate negative numbers or the subtraction operation involving negative integers. Another stumbling block seemed to be poor proficiency in English, which is the language of teaching and learning mathematics. The study recommends that building conceptual understanding on directed numbers and operations on them must be encouraged through use of multirepresentations and other contexts meaningful to learners. For that reason, we urge delayed use of calculators.


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