Stimulating and facilitating Norwegian RUME

International audienceMatRIC – Centre for Research, Innovation and Coordination of Mathematics Teaching is a Norwegian centre of excellence in higher education. The centre focuses on innovation in university level mathematics teaching. We foster research in teaching and learning mathematics, especially but not exclusively in the context of innovative practice. MatRIC also seeks to facilitate the networking of university level mathematics teachers within Norway and with the international community. This poster focuses on MatRIC's activity aimed at the development of research in university mathematics education. The poster sets out strands of activity within MatRIC's research programme, types of inquiry pursued, and categories of purpose.</p

Revisiting the didactic triangle: from the particular to the general

The basic notion of a didactic triangle is explained with historical annotations on its origins and subsequent theorization in the literature. Instances of its application to classroom environments to demonstrate its representational capabilities are presented. Generalizations of the triangle are proposed that integrate the role of technology, the researcher in mathematics teaching developmental research, and mediating complexes in the student–teacher–content interfaces. Further, the use of the didactic triangle as a heuristic device is also discussed

Online mathematics teaching and learning during the COVID-19 pandemic: The perspective of lecturers and students

The global spread of the novel coronavirus, Covid-19, reached Norway at the end of February 2020. MatRIC, Centre for Research, Innovation and Coordination of Mathematics Teaching conducted a national survey in Norwegian higher education institutions (HEIs) during June-July 2020 to explore lecturers’ and students’ experiences of online mathematics teaching and learning and to enable sharing of solutions to the challenges encountered. One hundred and twenty-seven students and eighteen lecturers participated in this survey. In this presentation, we will share some of the findings of the survey in relation to the following two themes: challenges of learning and teaching mathematics online, and the psychological impact of lockdown on student learning and lecturer teaching. The study findings show that many students missed the social contact, being physically present at the university, and face to face interaction with their lecturers. Additionally, several students experienced a degree of anxiety through the lockdown period to the extent that they perceived their learning was negatively affected. Lecturers took a number of steps to ensure lines of communication remained open. Our findings show that simple actions by the lecturer to open channels of communication can be very effective.publishedVersio

Switching to Fully Online Teaching and Learning of Mathematics: The Case of Norwegian Mathematics Lecturers and University Students During the Covid‑19 Pandemic

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A transition to online teaching and learning of mathematics in Norwegian higher education institutions: the perspectives of lecturers and students

This paper reports a study of university lecturers’ and students’ experiences of teaching and learning mathematics following the abrupt requirement to switch to online teaching in 2020. A goal of the study is to share experiences that could be useful to improve the teaching and learning of mathematics in online settings. The qualitative research described is a phenomenological study and draws on interviews with ten mathematics lecturers and six undergraduate students who were enrolled in at least one university mathematical course during the lockdown in 2020. The interview data were analysed using a thematic approach. This paper reports findings regarding perceptions of lecturers and students about the challenges and benefits of online teaching and learning of mathematics, how the transition to online education has influenced assessment and sharing useful approaches for teaching and learning mathematics in online settings.publishedVersio

Critical alignment in inquiry-based practice in developing mathematics teaching

This paper reports a case study from a mathematics teaching developmental research project. The theoretical foundation for the research comprises communities of inquiry and critical alignment, with which the developmental methodology has a particular synergy. This synergy is the main focus of the paper. The paper elaborates theoretical and methodological antecedents of the project and traces these through a case study of developments in the practices of one upper secondary school team and a group of university didacticians (mathematics teacher educators and researchers) during the first year of the project. The case study reveals that critical alignment and inquiry (necessarily) bring uncertainty and risk, and foster tensions within the teachers’ practice and between the practices of teachers and didacticians. In exposing these uncertainties, risks and tensions, the paper points to their value for the learning and knowledge gained by participants

Critical stance within a community of inquiry in an advanced mathematics course for pre-service teachers

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Mediated action in teachers’ discussions about mathematics tasks

This paper presents analyses of teachers’ discussions within mathematics teaching developmental research projects, taking mediation as the central construct. The relations in the so-called ‘didactic triangle’ form the basic framework for the analysis of two episodes in which upper secondary school teachers discuss and prepare tasks for classroom use. The analysis leads to the suggestion that the focus on tasks places an emphasis on the task as object and its resolution as goal; mathematics has the role of a mediating artefact. Subject content in the didactic triangle is thus displaced by the task and learning mathematics may be relegated to a subordinate position

Self-efficacy and approaches to learning mathematics among engineering students : empirical evidence for potential causal relations

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