Mathematics teaching and teachers’ practice: tracing shifts in meaning and identifying potential theoretical lenses

International audienceThe paper reports on meaning shifts of the terms ‘teaching’ and ‘teachers’ practice’ in mathematics education over time and presents three theoretical frameworks arguing for their advantages in studying mathematics teachers’ instructional practice, an especially complex but relatively unexplored sociocultural activity. An exemplification is then offered through the exploitation of one of the theoretical lenses suggested in the case of the mathematics teaching practice of a primary school teacher, Antigoni. The results of the data analysis informed by the lenses employed revealed a dynamic and strongly contextual understanding of the teacher’s teaching practice connecting her current with past and present practices of hers, a feature specific to the framework used

Learning trajectories and fractions: primary teachers’ meaning attributions

International audienceA learning trajectory constitutes a hypothesis and a description of students’ thinking related to learning a mathematical notion. The study reported here, employing a multiple case study approach, investigates the use of learning trajectories in the teaching of fractions by three 5th grade Greek primary school teachers. Particularly, the research problem pursued concerns the teachers’ meaning making and use of the concept of learning trajectories introduced by a recent Mathematics Curriculum reform. The results of analyzing the teachers’ answers to two semi-structured interviews and the transcripts of a non-participant observation of their lessons show that learning trajectories were understood as means of planning teaching and used as ‘maps’ of navigating classroom instruction, predominately successful when students’ previous knowledge and thinking, and not just their difficulties, are taken into consideration

Η μαθηματική πρόκληση στη σχολική τάξη και στην εκπαιίδευση εκπαιδευτικών

Η μαθηματική πρόκληση στη διδασκαλία των μαθηματικώναποτελεί κεντρικό στόχο πολλών εκπαιδευτικών συστημάτων και Αναλυτικών Προγραμμάτων, ενώ γίνεται προσπάθεια να ενσωματωθούν κατάλληλες δραστηριότητες σε σχολικά εγχειρίδια και να επιμορφωθούν οι εκπαιδευτικοί σε προγράμματα επαγγελματικής εκπαίδευσης. Ωστόσο, η έρευνα και η εμπειρία δείχνουν ότι οι παραπάνω συνθήκες δεν αποτελούν εγγύηση για την δημιουργία πλούσιων μαθησιακών περιβαλλόντων που ενεργοποιούν όλους τους μαθητές στη σχολική τάξη. Σε αυτό το στρογγυλό τραπέζι εστιαζόμαστε στη μαθηματική πρόκλησηως συστατικό στοιχείο της διδασκαλίας των μαθηματικών και της μαθησιακής εμπειρίας των διδασκομένων με στόχο να εξετάσουμε ζητήματα που αναδύονται στο επίπεδο της έρευνας και της πρακτικής στη διεθνή αλλά και στην ελληνική εκπαιδευτική πραγματικότητα

Introduction to the papers of TWG19:mathematics teaching and teacher practice(s)

Since its birth in the aftermath of CERME10, discussions in TWG19 concentrated on identifying its research territory and on creating opportunities for collaboration among the participants beyond the conference sessions. These discussions led to shifting the focus of the group on mathematics teaching and teacher practice (s) and to an initiative of working on shared data that fueled fruitful explorations related to conceptualizations and theorization of mathematics teaching. The participants’ contributions and the work carried out during CERME11 sessions challenged further the core ideas of how mathematics teaching can be defined and studied while an emerging distinction between teaching as an activity and teaching as work stimulated further the group’s discussions

Mathematics teaching and teachers’ practice: tracing shifts in meaning and identifying potential theoretical lenses

International audienceThe paper reports on meaning shifts of the terms ‘teaching’ and ‘teachers’ practice’ in mathematics education over time and presents three theoretical frameworks arguing for their advantages in studying mathematics teachers’ instructional practice, an especially complex but relatively unexplored sociocultural activity. An exemplification is then offered through the exploitation of one of the theoretical lenses suggested in the case of the mathematics teaching practice of a primary school teacher, Antigoni. The results of the data analysis informed by the lenses employed revealed a dynamic and strongly contextual understanding of the teacher’s teaching practice connecting her current with past and present practices of hers, a feature specific to the framework used

'Routes' of recontextualizing mathematical processes through a curriculum reform

International audienceThe recontextualizationstaking place during the implementation of a new curriculum are identified through different discourses teachers draw on in order to attribute meaning to the ideas promoted by the new curriculum. The paper studies the ways in which thirteen Greek primary school teachers who participated in aone-year pilot implementation of a new mathematics curriculum recontextualized its innovations through the discourses they drew on. The analysis of the data revealed contradictions within the teachers' discourse that can be attributed to the recontextualization procedures activated during the implementation of the new curriculum and indicate inconsistencies within or/and between the various discourses available to them

Teachers' voices related to the mathematical meaning constructed in the classroom

International audienceResearch on classroom teaching practices is mainly focused on teachers' knowledge, beliefs and practices paying limited attention to a crucial aspect of the instructional activity, that is, on the mathematical meaning constructed in the classroom. The present study examines three highly motivated and professionally active primary teachers' instructional practices and their reflections on them in an attempt to identify critical elements shaping classroom mathematical meaning construction. The results show that all three teachers, intentionally or not, make instructional choices, which tend to restrict the mathematical meaning under negotiation. These choices could be attributed to their desire to provide children with an 'easy', 'safe' and 'pleasant' learning environment

Learning trajectories and fractions: primary teachers’ meaning attributions

International audienceA learning trajectory constitutes a hypothesis and a description of students’ thinking related to learning a mathematical notion. The study reported here, employing a multiple case study approach, investigates the use of learning trajectories in the teaching of fractions by three 5th grade Greek primary school teachers. Particularly, the research problem pursued concerns the teachers’ meaning making and use of the concept of learning trajectories introduced by a recent Mathematics Curriculum reform. The results of analyzing the teachers’ answers to two semi-structured interviews and the transcripts of a non-participant observation of their lessons show that learning trajectories were understood as means of planning teaching and used as ‘maps’ of navigating classroom instruction, predominately successful when students’ previous knowledge and thinking, and not just their difficulties, are taken into consideration

The transition from high school to university mathematics: the effect of institutional issues on students’ initiation into a new practice of studying mathematics

International audienceThe present paper reports on a study of the challenges faced by two first year mathematics undergraduate students during their transition from secondary to tertiary education, focusing on the institutional issues that shape the initiation into their studying university mathematics practice, through the lenses offered by the Communities of Practice framework. We consider transition as developing a new identity of studying mathematics, that is, of studying university mathematics, aiming to examine the trajectories of this development. Data were gathered over students’ first two semesters of attendance predominately through interviews. The results of our analysis reveal that the students’ introduction into an unknown, strongly institutionalized community of practice has a powerful effect on their initiation into the new practice of studying university mathematics