Men, Masculinities and Teaching in Early Childhood Education [Review of the book]

Este libro editado por Simon Brownhill, Jo Warin and IngaWernersoon discute el papel que juegan los hombres en la educación infantil, no solo desde un punto de vista professional, como cuidadores, sino que también desde el ámbito de los valores, las actitudes, las creencias o el imaginario social que envuelve la educación infantil

Doing mathematics with Roma: Dialogue between dialogic learning and ethnomathematics

Roma have been excluded from education over the years. Their cultural heritage mediates their ways to learn and use mathematics within the classroom. Drawing on the dialogue between Dialogic Learning and Ethnomathematics open the possibility to incorporate Roma's voices to the learning process. Interactive groups become spaces for participants to share their own cultural strategies to solve mathematical tasks. Egalitarian dialogue, cultural intelligence, and equality of differences are universal principles that make possible for all participants in the classroom to draw on their own ways to do mathematics, as stated by the Ethnomathematics approach. The challenge for the near future is to identify these universals to design inclusive practices in mathematics education

Mathematics dialogic gatherings: A way to create new possibilities to learn mathematics

This paper introduces the Mathematics Dialogic Gatherings (MDG) as a successful way to encourage adults' learning of mathematics. We report on a group of adults who attended a MDG in an adult school placed in Barcelona. Participants in this group do not have an academic trajectory. They attend once a week a session in the adult school, where they read, share and discuss paragraphs from textbooks of mathematics. Popular gatherings are a historical way for adults to learn in Spain. MDG are based on the dialogic learning approach developed by Flecha and others. In this session I will provide evidence on adults' discussions illustrating how they scaffold themselves through egalitarian dialogue to learn and understand the mathematical concepts included in the textbooks used within the MDG. Drawing on the data collected, I argue that adults learn as a result of a dialogue in which they negotiate the meaning of the mathematical objects discussed, using dialogic talk. I conclude that MDG have the potential to create further learning opportunities especially for those who have never attended formal school courses, or dropped out of their school

Desarrollo y valoración del pensamiento crítico como competencia transversal en la formación de profesores de matemáticas

Se presenta una propuesta de tareas profesionales y evaluación de la competencia de desarrollo de pensamiento crítico, en el Máster de Formación de Profesores de Secundaria de Matemáticas. Se describen dos tareas de formación que se han realizado, mediante estudios de caso. El análisis de dichas tareas, nos ha permitido establecer unos indicadores para la evaluación de dicha competencia

Mathematics Makes you Feel Attractive. Empowering New Alternative Masculinities in the Context of Mathematics Classrooms

This article studies the relationship between masculinity construction in school and mathematics learning in boys. For this purpose, we introduce the variables of social interaction and the differentiation between the language of ethics and the language of desire. The methodology used is a literature review, drawing on discourse analysis as a methodology to identify the relevant themes emerging from the studies analysed. We found several issues that seem to negatively condition mathematics learning in boys that have to do with specific gender identity construction, namely the development of Dominant Traditional Masculinities. Moreover, this negative behavior towards mathematics learning is enhanced by the social attraction towards violence. However, the literature also contains elements that respond to a different model of masculinity that can be successful in mathematics learning and attractive at the same time, which is related to the New Alternative Masculinities model. We conclude with some recommendations to support this new model of attractiveness and masculinity in order to rethink research in mathematics achievement in children in the future in the light of the implications of these different models of masculinity

Learning communities: Pathways for educational success and social transformation through interactive groups in mathematics

Schools as learning communities have been recommended by the European Commission as an effective model to support school quality and development. Aiming at studying how these schools are achieving such positive results, this article focuses on the analysis of a particular classroom intervention called 'interactive groups'. A five-year longitudinal case study has been conducted in a socio-economically deprived urban school under the European Union-funded large-scale research project INCLUD-ED: Strategies for Inclusion and Social Cohesion in Europe from Education. Descriptive and interpretative analysis was conducted based on quantitative indicators on school performance in mathematics and including qualitative data from classroom observations and interviews with pupils, parents and teachers. Particularly, the authors aim to explore in which ways and under which conditions dialogic interactions take place in culturally diverse small groups when doing interactive groups in mathematics. Data on school performance in mathematics shows a sustainable improvement over time. Families, teachers and students seem to link the interactions in interactive groups with an improvement in their relationships in the school and in the community. The authors conclude that the dialogical approach identified in interactive groups among students, teachers and parents improves students' achievement and increases the potential of community-based mathematical interventions in primary classrooms. Lessons learned from this study have informed educational policies in Europe

Analyzing male attractiveness models from a communicative approach: socialization, attraction, and gender-based violence

Although the analysis of male attractiveness models is key to shed light into the prevention of gender-based violence (GBV), it is not always easy to access crucial information about these models. Research shows that inadequate data collection techniques can lead to reproducing superficial arguments confirming existing stereotypes instead of tackling with the real connections. Using communicative daily life stories and communicative focus groups, we take on the challenge of accessing the existing models of male attractiveness' foundations. These techniques are used to collect data about the specific attractiveness models into which adolescents are socialized and their potential link to violence. We argue that the communicative orientation furthers the scientific understanding of the dominant traditional model of masculinity that socializes into GBV and the new alternative model of masculinity that socializes into its overcoming. The use of communicative techniques is showed to empower participants to question their attractive preferences

Dialogic Scientific Gatherings: The Promotion of Scientific Literacy Among Children

The participation of citizens in democratic societies depends on their ability to understand scientific knowledge and apply it to everyday life situations. Thus, promoting scientific literacy from an early age should be among the main priorities in democratic societies. Dialogic Scientific Gatherings (DSGs) have successfully promoted scientific literacy among adults. This research intends to take a step forward in studying DSG implementation's transferability in promoting scientific literacy in primary school children from a culturally diverse school placed in a low socioeconomic neighborhood in Spain. Drawing upon Communicative Methodology, this case study has collected data through semi-structured interviews and communicative observations. The results show that (1) DSG enhance scientific literacy, specifically instrumental learning, analytical and critical thinking and social abilities and (2) the promotion of scientific literacy has an impact on decision-making and participation in society. Furthermore, although this research is a case study implemented in one school, it shows that DSG can be transferred to a culturally diverse school

La Paz School. From a Ghetto to a Magnet School

This article presents the transformation process of San Juan, a ghetto school, into La Paz, a magnet school. This transformation has been made possible by implementing the communicative methodology of research (CMR) based on the participation of everyone involved in the research process, together with the administration and the researchers. The article explains how the change has been made as well as the political measures that have been developed. Finally, a reflection considering the political improvements arising from the experience is given