The thinking styles of university mathematics students

In this paper, we focus on the relationship between studying university mathematics and the ‘thinking styles’ of both undergraduate and postgraduate mathematics students. A crosssectional quantitative study (N = 238) was conducted in a large Greek university, identifying the thinking styles of second, third and fourth year undergraduates, as well as those of students following a postgraduate degree in mathematics. The analysis revealed that the more experienced undergraduates and the postgraduates showed a stronger preference for originality and freedom in thinking, low degrees of structure, high levels of freedom and more complex information processing, combined with non-prioritised thinking. However, the postgraduates combine these preferences with a stronger preference for implementing rules and instructions. A discussion on these findings and on the factors that may account for them is presented

State curriculum control in Greece and England : a comparative study.

ABSTRACT\ud The thesis is a comparative study of the policies of curriculum\ud control in Greece and England with particular reference to primary\ud education.\ud The comparison is between a traditional bureaucratic centralised\ud pattern (Greece) which in terms of educational control is called here\ud mono-dimensional and a new 'market-like' pattern which combines\ud centralisation and decentralisation (England) and is termed bidimensional.\ud The two cases differ in their mode of management control\ud but they intersect at their mode of curriculum control.\ud However, the thesis suggests that although in both countries the\ud mode of curriculum control is centralised, there is an emphasis on\ud different message systems. While the Greek centralised curriculum is\ud characterised by strong prescription of content and pedagogy and weak\ud definition of assessment procedures, the English centralised curriculum\ud is marked by strong definition of evaluation and weak prescription of\ud content and pedagogy.\ud The main argument of the thesis is tested in three main areas,\ud taken as tertia comparationis of the study. First, there is an\ud investigation of the policies of curriculum reform which took place in\ud the two countries during the 1980s. The research identifies official shifts\ud to different educational priorities and models of pedagogic practice\ud (competence and performance) in primary education. Secondly, the\ud thesis analyses central curriculum planning as an attempt of the state to\ud regulate schools' pedagogic practice. Here the focus is on the theoretical\ud approach underpinning curriculum planning, the extent to which the\ud three message systems are pre-defined and the main means used by the\ud central authority to make schools comply with the official\ud requirements. Thirdly, the study examines inspectorial policies in the\ud two countries, as state actions intended to monitor the realisation of the\ud official curriculum in schools.\ud Finally, in the conclusion, it is suggested that there is a different\ud economy of curriculum control in the two patterns - in terms of the\ud human, symbolic and financial resources used to regulate pedagogic\ud practice

Teaching for the objectification of the Pythagorean Theorem

This study concerns a teaching design with the purpose to facilitate the students’ objectification of the Pythagorean Theorem. Twelve 14-year old students (N=12) participated in the study before the theorem was introduced to them at school. The design incorporated ideas from the ‘embodied mind’ framework, history and realistic mathematics, linking ‘embodied verticality’ with ‘perpendicularity’. The qualitative analyses suggested that the participants were led to the conquest of the ‘first level of objectification’ (through numbers) of the Pythagorean Theorem, showing also evidence of appropriate ‘fore-conceptions’ of the ‘second level of objectification’ (through proof) of the theorem. The triangle the sides of which are associated with the Basic Triple (3,4,5) served as a primary instrument for the students’ objectification, mainly, by facilitating their ‘generic abstraction’ of the Pythagorean Triples

School Socio-Cultural Identity and Perceived Parental Involvement About Mathematics Learning in Greece

In this quantitative study we investigated the primary school students’ perceived parental involvement in mathematics with respect to different school socio-cultural identity as identified by the students’ ethnicity. 493 students attending the two last grades of three primary schools participated in the study. The role of the students’ grade and gender, as well as the mother/father contrast were also considered in the analyses. The findings of the study revealed both inter-school and intra-school divergences and convergences, thus suggesting the complex links between school identity and perceived parental involvement. More specifically, according to our results, the ‘multi-cultural’ seems to be linked with a more stable perceived parental involvement across different year groups and calendar years. The pedagogical implication of the findings are discussed

Mathematics as a discipline and as a school course: a systemic comparative study conducted in Brazil and Greece about the in-service school principals’ constructions

Em todos os sistemas educacionais hierárquicos são importantes os pontos de vista dos diretores de escola, pois eles afetam crucialmente as práticas de sala de aula e as relações entre todos os protagonistas da unidade escolar. Neste trabalho, adotamos aspectos da abordagem para a teoria dos sistemas, com o objetivo de investigar os pontos de vista dos diretores em serviço sobre a matemática, tanto como uma disciplina curricular como as práticas gerenciais do sistema de ensino, buscando entender as interações entre seus pontos de vista em relação à matemática e à organização dessa disciplina no sistema. A matemática no contexto escolar foi investigada considerando três focos: as representações simbólicas/ regulamentares, as representações pragmáticas e as intencionalidades das ações adotadas. Um estudo comparativo qualitativo foi realizado em pequena escala (N = 59), incluindo diretores de escolas públicas em serviço em uma região de São Paulo, no Brasil (NB = 29) e diretores de escolas da Grécia (NG = 30). Os resultados das comparações intraculturais e interculturais sugerem convergências e divergências noemáticas entre os pontos de vista epistemológicos adotados sobre a matemática pelos diretores gregos e pelos seus colegas brasileiros, também evidenciam pontos de vista sobre a matemática como um curso no ano letivo, revelando então interações intra e intersistêmicas

Mathematics as a discipline and as a school course: a systemic comparative study conducted in Brazil and Greece about the in-service school principals’ constructions

Em todos os sistemas educacionais hierárquicos são importantes os pontos de vista dos diretores de escola, pois eles afetam crucialmente as práticas de sala de aula e as relações entre todos os protagonistas da unidade escolar. Neste trabalho, adotamos aspectos da abordagem para a teoria dos sistemas, com o objetivo de investigar os pontos de vista dos diretores em serviço sobre a matemática, tanto como uma disciplina curricular como as práticas gerenciais do sistema de ensino, buscando entender as interações entre seus pontos de vista em relação à matemática e à organização dessa disciplina no sistema. A matemática no contexto escolar foi investigada considerando três focos: as representações simbólicas/ regulamentares, as representações pragmáticas e as intencionalidades das ações adotadas. Um estudo comparativo qualitativo foi realizado em pequena escala (N = 59), incluindo diretores de escolas públicas em serviço em uma região de São Paulo, no Brasil (NB = 29) e diretores de escolas da Grécia (NG = 30). Os resultados das comparações intraculturais e interculturais sugerem convergências e divergências noemáticas entre os pontos de vista epistemológicos adotados sobre a matemática pelos diretores gregos e pelos seus colegas brasileiros, também evidenciam pontos de vista sobre a matemática como um curso no ano letivo, revelando então interações intra e intersistêmicas

State curriculum control in England and Greece A comparative study

SIGLEAvailable from British Library Document Supply Centre-DSC:DXN024697 / BLDSC - British Library Document Supply CentreGBUnited Kingdo