Distance mathematics teaching in Flanders, Germany, and the Netherlands during COVID-19 lockdown

The COVID-19 pandemic has confronted mathematics teachers with the challenge of developing alternative teaching practices—in many cases at a distance through digital technology—because schools were closed. To investigate what distance practices in secondary mathematics education have emerged and how teachers experienced them, we set out online questionnaires in Flanders—the Dutch-speaking part of Belgium—, Germany, and the Netherlands. The questionnaire focused on teaching practices, teacher beliefs, didactics, and assessment. Data consisted of completed questionnaires by 1719 mathematics teachers. Results show that the use of video conferencing tools increased massively, while the use of mathematics-specific tools that teachers used before the lockdown reduced substantially. Further findings are that teachers' confidence in using digital technologies increased remarkably during the lockdown and that their experiences and beliefs only marginally impacted their distance learning practices. Also, we observed some differences between the three countries that might be explained by differences in educational policies and in technological facilities and support. For future research, it would be relevant to investigate long-term changes in teachers’ practices, as well as students’ views and experiences related to the teacher’s practices.

Beliefs of Students, Parents and Teachers on Use of Unauthorized Study Materials and Success in Secondary Mathematics Education in Nepal

Most of the Nepali students have been widely found using different unauthorized book and study materials for achieving good results in their exams in secondary levels as well as higher levels of education. Theseunauthorized books and study materials have been found usefulas they are mostly exam oriented and have the detailed worked out questions and answers from the past years asked by the examination board of Nepal.A study was conducted to examine the usefulness of such materials in mathematics of secondary level education. It was also aimed to assess the beliefs of students, parents and teachers on the use of unauthorized study materials and achieve success in the secondary mathematics education in Nepal. By using semi-structured questionnaire with students and key informant interviews with selected parents/guardians and mathematics teachers, the researcher has explored the achievements of students and beliefs and attitudes of students along with perspectives of their parents and math teachers.

Relations between Generalization, Reasoning and Combinatorial Thinking in Solving Mathematical Open-Ended Problems within Mathematical Contest

Algebraic thinking, combinatorial thinking and reasoning skills are considered as playing central roles within teaching and learning in the field of mathematics, particularly in solving complex open-ended mathematical problems Specific relations between these three abilities, manifested in the solving of an open-ended ill-structured problem aimed at mathematical modeling, were investigated. We analyzed solutions received from 33 groups totaling 131 students, who solved a complex assignment within the mathematical contest Mathematics B-day 2018. Such relations were more obvious when solving a complex problem, compared to more structured closed subtasks. Algebraic generalization is an important prerequisite to prove mathematically and to solve combinatorial problem at higher levels, i.e., using expressions and formulas, therefore a special focus should be put on this ability in upper-secondary mathematics education.

Inquiry-Based Learning Practices in Lower-Secondary Mathematics Education Reported by Students from China and the Netherlands

Inquiry-based learning (IBL) emphasizes learning through experiencing and constructing. Where IBL is often applied in science education, the conceptualization of IBL practices in mathematics education is less obvious. We compared students’ reports on IBL practices in two different teaching cultures as an attempt to better understand IBL practices in connection with overarching teaching cultures. In this study, we investigated IBL practices in lower-secondary mathematics lessons in the Beijing area and the Netherlands through a survey about the experiences and preferences of 858 Chinese students and 441 Dutch students. Results show that students from the Beijing sample reported experiencing IBL activities in most mathematics lessons, while students from the Dutch sample reported them in some lessons, and both preferred the same amount of IBL activities as they experienced. The Dutch sample reported little experience with posing questions to tackle. The study also suggests a correlation between IBL experience and IBL preference of each class: students with more IBL experience are likely to show a higher preference for IBL activities. Results of this study do not confirm expectations based on stereotypes about the two teaching cultures. The students’ perspective in both samples suggests that providing complex problems and organizing group work have potential for further encouraging IBL in mathematics.

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

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.

Towards Flipped Learning in Upper Secondary Mathematics Education

Challenges for students in the 21st century, such as acquiring technology, problem-solving and cooperation skills, also necessitates changes in mathematics education to be able to respond to changing educational needs. One way to respond to these challenges is utilising recent educational innovations in schools, for instance, among others are flipped learning (FL) approaches. In this paper, we outline our explorative educational experiment that aims to investigate key elements of mathematics learning in FL approaches in upper secondary education. We describe the methodologies and findings of our qualitative study based on design-based research to discover key elements of FL approaches in upper secondary education. Analysing the data collected over ten months suggested categories (a) confidence when learning; (b) learning by working; and (c) flexibility when learning could be essential to understand FL approaches practices in mathematics classrooms.