The impact of mathematics teachers’ professional competence on instructional quality and students’ mathematics learning outcomes

Teacher quality is a critical factor that influences instructional quality and student learning outcomes. Recently, the authors have proposed broadened views of teacher competence that include dispositions, such as knowledge, and more situation-specific aspects, such as noticing, and span from the dispositions of teachers to their performance in the classroom. Mathematics-education researchers have enriched the conceptualization of teacher competence, developed new measurements, and explored effective ways to facilitate the development of teacher competence. Many empirical studies have been conducted in this field to investigate the impact of teacher professional competence on instructional quality and student mathematics learning outcomes. With this review, we intend to provide a synopsis of the state-of-the-art in this topic and outline new research perspectives

Impacts of classroom teaching practices on students’ mathematics learning interest, mathematics self-efficacy and mathematics test achievements : A secondary analysis of Shanghai data from the international video study Global Teaching InSights

Teaching effectiveness is a core issue in educational research; however, there is little consensus about the most important results of classroom teaching from an international perspective. The effectiveness of teaching has remained a ‘black box’ for a long time. In the secondary study described in this paper we used empirical data for Shanghai taken from the international Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) study Global Teaching InSights (GTI)—initially the Teaching and Learning International Survey (TALIS) Video Study—which was based on videotaped direct observations of classroom teaching. Eighty-five junior high school mathematics teachers and their students in Shanghai were observed to explore the impact of specific teaching practices on students’ interest, self-efficacy, and mathematics achievement scores. The results revealed that social-emotional support and instruction quality were the key dimensions relating to the characteristics and differences of mathematics lessons in Shanghai. While the former had a significantly positive impact on students’ general mathematics self-efficacy, the latter had a significantly positive impact on students’ mathematics interest. Although specific teaching practices had no significant direct impact on students’ mathematics achievement scores, social-emotional support and instruction quality considerably influenced students’ academic performance in an indirect way via general self-efficacy

Innovative perspectives in research in mathematical modelling education

The research forum shares and discusses innovative perspectives in research on mathematical modelling education. Specifically, the proposed research forum intends to give an overview of current perspectives from different research strands (amongst others, psychologically and pedagogically oriented research) and from different social-cultural contexts (including Eastern and Western contexts). Finally, the research forum aims to develop prospects for further developments in modelling education research

Mathematical knowledge for teaching and mathematics didactic knowledge : A comparative study

This paper compares and contrasts two approaches that are widely used in the English- and German-speaking discourse on mathematics teacher knowledge: ‘mathematical knowledge for teaching’ and ‘mathematics didactic knowledge’. It is proposed that these constructs are based on distinct theoretical and conceptual positions and origins. Mathematical knowledge for teaching is viewed as a utilitarian-pragmatic approach rooted in English-speaking traditions as it focuses on its use in teaching and represents a practice-based conceptualization of knowledge domains required for mathematics teaching. Mathematics didactic knowledge, on the other hand, is considered normative-descriptive as it is formulated based on didactic principles and broader theoretical perspectives, providing a theory-driven conceptualization of knowledge domains rooted in traditions of German-speaking didactics of mathematics. The paper further highlights similarities and differences in these two constructs through an examination of two central knowledge domains: specialized content knowledge (part of mathematical knowledge for teaching) and subject matter didactic knowledge (part of mathematics didactic knowledge)

The reciprocal relationship among Chinese senior secondary students’ intrinsic and extrinsic motivation and cognitive engagement in learning mathematics : A three-wave longitudinal study

In the present longitudinal study, cross-lagged path models were applied to investigate the potential reciprocal relationships between senior secondary school students’ motivation and their cognitive engagement, using data from 623 Chinese senior secondary school students across 2 years. The 623 students completed self-reported measures of motivation and engagement at three time points within 2 years. The results suggest that the participants held a mixed type of intrinsic and extrinsic motivation to learn mathematics and did not hold a deep level of cognitive engagement in mathematics learning. Compared with their extrinisic motivation, their intrinsic motivation to learn mathematics was more closely related to their cognitive engagement in mathematics learning, which points to a stronger reciprocal effect between their cognitive engagement and intrinsic motivation. The findings suggest that societal and cultural factors, such as the strong examination culture and high external expectations might be influential factors affecting the reciprocal relationships among students’ motivation and cognitive engagement

Will we ever teach mathematics again in the way we used to before the pandemic?

After about two years of emergency remote teaching during the pandemic, the teaching of mathematics is slowly returning to (what used to be called) normal. However, after the period of mostly teaching online, there is uncertainty about the extent to which we will return to the way we were teaching before. In this survey paper we attempt to give some background to the impact that emergency remote teaching may have had on teaching mathematics. We examine the possible social implications and then focus on the changing mathematics classroom, focusing on the actual mathematics curriculum, learning design and assessment, the role of collaborative activities and social media, educational videos, and the role of family and parents in future. There are indicators from the literature that educators may not return to the traditional way of teaching entirely, especially in secondary and higher education. We conclude with describing some possible new research areas that have developed through emergency remote teaching, including online education for younger learners, local learning ecosystems, the role of family and parents, instructional design, and the mathematics content of curricula

Umfrage der UB Mannheim - Ergebnisse der Auswertung : "Sagen Sie uns Ihre Meinung" vom 13.3. – 8.4.2012 in Zusammenarbeit mit dem Lehrstuhl für ABWL, Public & Nonprofit Management (Prof. Helmig)

"Sagen Sie uns Ihre Meinung" – unter diesem Motto führte die UB Mannheim im Frühjahr 2012 eine große Umfrage zu ihren Services durch. Ziel der Umfrage war es, die aktuelle Zufriedenheit der NutzerInnen mit der Bibliothek abzufragen und die Erwartungen hinsichtlich zukünftiger Dienstleistungen zu ermitteln. Dieser Bericht präsentiert die wesentlichen Ergebnisse und Schlussfolgerungen aus Sicht der UB Mannheim