How do Socioeconomic Attainment Gaps in Early Mathematical Ability Arise?

The socioeconomic attainment gap in mathematical ability is evident before children begin school and widens over time. Little is known about why this early attainment gap emerges. Two studies were conducted in 3- and 4-year-olds, to explore four possible factors that may explain why attainment gaps arise: working memory, inhibitory control, verbal ability, and frequency of home mathematical activities (N = 304, 54% female from a range of ethnic backgrounds but predominantly White British [76%]). Inhibitory control and verbal ability emerged as indirect factors in the relation between socioeconomic status and early mathematical ability, but neither working memory nor home mathematical activities did. These studies provide important insights about how the early attainment gap in mathematical ability may arise.

Design Mathematical Activity in Mathematics Classroom: Decimal Number

The research was aimed to investigate six-lesson study team members in designing mathematical activities to develop students’ mathematization using Open Approach in the second step of the Lesson Study process in teaching decimal numbers. A total of 16 Grade 4 students participated as the target group. Three instruments were used namely lesson plans, student worksheets, and observation field notes. Researchers employed ethnographic research design to study how the mathematical activities could assist students to develop their mathematical ideas from the real world to the mathematical world through a flow of lessons over the four stages of the Open Approach along with the Lesson Study process. The research results revealed that a series of five research lesson plans encompassing various mathematical activities were successfully encouraging students to elaborate their ideas and transmitting their ideas from the real-world to the mathematical world using semi-concrete aids. Moreover, the results of using the Open Approach have been proved to be relevant as students demonstrated their mathematization in fostering their mathematical thinking to transform their ideas smoothly. Therefore, designing mathematical activities is important to cultivate students’ mathematical thinking in problem-solving instantaneously. A limitation of the research was identified when the Lesson Study team members were reflecting on the teaching practice. This is because they found that the unclear illustration in the student worksheets has raised confusion. In conclusion, the overall results of this research have contributed significantly to our recognition of the practicality of Open Approach treatment in the Lesson Study process in developing students’ mathematization through their participation in mathematical activities.

Content and Structure of Psychological Readiness of Secondary School Students to Solve Creative Mathematical Tasks

Informational technologies, the latest challenges in the field of technical development of society condition irreversible environmental and human changes. In the context of these changes a special place is occupied by those activities that are directly or indirectly related to technical, cybernetic, mathematical activities. This actualizes the manifestation of mathematical abilities, giftedness for math activity in youth, features of creative potential, etc. The purpose of the study is to clarify the content and structure of psychological readiness of high school students for creative mathematical performance. The main content characteristics of the creative mathematical problem as a model for the study of creative mathematical activities are considered in the article. Based on the theory of learning problems, the psychological structure of mathematical task is determined. The structure contains the following components: a) the subject of the task (in its initial state or the ascending subject of the task); b) the model of desired state, ie the requirements (set and required) of the task. The contradiction of the creative mathematical situation first of all characterized by the object and subject of the creative mathematical task. The psychological readiness of high school students for creative mathematical performance is an integrated personality trait aimed at realizing of the cognitive abilities of young people in the process of solving creative mathematical problems. Since the process of creative mathematical thinking (creative mathematical activity) is determined by objective (subject-functional) and subjective-personal (motivation, emotional-volitional, value attitude) components, it is worth saying about subject-functional, subjective-personal types of psychological readiness of high school students to perform mathematical creative activities.

The Alpha and Omega of Teacher Education: Organizing Mathematical Activities

The aim of this paper is to describe an introductory mathematics course for primary student teachers and to explain the philosophy behind it. The paper is structured as follows: It starts with a general plea for placing the mathematical training of any category of students into their professional context. Then the context of primary education in Germany, with its strong emphasis on the principle of learning by discovery, is sketched.