Introduction to the papers of TWG22: curricular resources and task design in mathematics education

This contribution discusses the scope and focus of the working group TWG 22 (Curricular resources and task design in mathematics education) during Cerme 12 conference. By recalling the issues addressed during the sessions of the TWG, we propose our reflections on possible directions for future research

Student transition into university mathematics education: transformation of people, tools and practices

In this article the concept of Feedback and Self-Regulated Learning has been used to investigate student ‘transition’ from upper secondary to university mathematics education. The findings are anchored in data from the TransMaths project (at the University of Manchester), more particularly the case of an ethnic minority student’s journey from his school to a university mathematics course taught at a large inner-city university in the UK. The results provide insights into (1) the different contexts students experience when transiting from school to university mathematics education; (2) the kinds of feedback students are likely to receive and which sources of feedback are beneficial for them in terms of independent learning; (3) ‘transformations’ which students experience and which they may need to go through in order to ‘survive’ in higher education mathematics courses. This has implications for policy makers who want to keep more students in mathematically demanding university programmes

Enhancing teacher learning with curriculum resources

In this commentary paper I start from the chapters of the book (and related research), and develop an argument for a complementary line of research, which (in my view) deserves additional (and increased) attention in mathematics education research. Whilst curriculum materials have been examined in terms of their quality and support for student learning, less research has focused on teacher learning with educative curriculum materials. This is especially relevant, as teachers are increasingly expected to design their own materials, in particular in times of curriculum change and profusion of digital materials on the web. In this chapter I discuss design criteria and suggest selected design specifications, and their functions, for educative curriculum materials. Moreover, I argue for ‘flexible design criteria’ aligning my suggestions with my earlier work on teacher design capacity

Open educational resources: a chance for opening mathematics teachers’ resource systems?

This chapter proposes a theoretical frame, the documentational approach to didactics (DAD), as a tool for analyzing the changes brought about by digitalization in the design and uses of mathematics teaching resources. One of the major changes appears to be initiated by the profusion of Open Educational Resources (OER), which provide new opportunities for the design and use of teaching resources. In order to analyze the effects of such opportunities, we focus on two cases: the French Sésamath association, providing OERs at a large scale; and a French mathematics teacher using OERs as a means for accomplishing her teaching. Through the lens of DAD, we investigate the implication of this provision of ‘resources-on-offer’ for teachers’ practices

Documentation work, design capacity, and teachers’ expertise in designing instruction

Teachers use resources in order to support their teaching, to support student learning, and to advance their own pedagogical and content knowledge. Using resources is intrinsically linked to particular knowledge and skills. These are conceptualized within different theoretical frames as competencies, aspects of design capacity, teacher expertise, professional knowledge, or utilization schemes within the instrumentation process. We discuss four different conceptualizations of teachers’ work with resources, problems they aim to address, and exemplars of empirical studies in which such conceptualizations are used. We then discuss the affordances, constraints, and blind spots of these frameworks and indicate how they overlap and complement each other