Journal of Mathematics Teacher Education has published their first issue this year. The issue contains some interesting articles:
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Author: Reidar Mosvold
AMTE Annual Conference
Today, the 13th Annual Conference of the Association of Mathematics Teacher Educators (AMTE) started in Orlando, Florida. Unfortunately, I am not there, so I cannot report from the conference. If anyone is, please tell me! And if you are blogging from the conference (or know about someone who does), please leave a note in the comment field 🙂
The conference program looks very interesting indeed, so I would love to get information about whether some papers are published somewhere, etc.
Why East Asians do well in math
Yesterday, an interesting article was published in the Philippine Daily Inquirer. The article was entitled “Why East Asians do well in math“. This was the second part of an article that was published last week – with the same name. Of course, this is a news article and not a scientific paper, but I think the articles alltogether provide some interesting information about some issues with these cultures that might very well influence their students’ achievement in mathematics. The final claim is that:
The secret to math success is not genetic or innate talent, but environment, family, culture.
Overcoming Algebra
Next Tuesday, there is going to be a free live “webinar” over at http://edweek.org/go/algebra. Presenters in this web-based seminar are Jon R. Star and Mary Jo Tavormina. Star is educational psychologist and assistant professor of education at Harvard University, whereas Tavormina is elementary mathematics manager in the Chicago Public Schools. Here is a description of the webinar:
One of the biggest challenges in K-12 education today is how to help students overcome their struggles in introductory algebra. Many students fail or are barely able to keep up in their first algebra course, typically taught in 8th or 9th grade. In response, state and school district officials are trying to solve this problem in several ways, such as by encouraging better teacher preparation, including an emphasis on algebra, and by revamping courses and curricula to help struggling students, such as through the creation of “algebra readiness” classes aimed at girding students for the challenges of that class. In addition, policymakers at all levels have called for an improved, more streamlined approach to teaching elementary and middle-grades math as a way of preparing students for algebra.
This webinar will bring together a number of experts who have examined students’ experiences with algebra. One of the goals is to explore the fundamental question: Why do so many students find algebra so difficult? The webinar will then examine efforts by districts and private curriculum-developers to help these students. It will also touch on major developments at the national level in this area, such as the release last year of a report of the National Math Advisory Panel, which called for more coherent math curricula at early grades as a foundation for algebra.
Gem #5: Russel’s Principles of Mathematics
The gem that I have decided to share with you today, is Bertrand Russel‘s book from 1903: “The Principles of Mathematics”.
You can download the pdf, or you can read it below. You can also check out this site, for another online version of the book. Enjoy!
Tools of American Mathematics Teaching, 1800-2000
The last issue of TCRecord includes a review of a book that I wasn’t aware of before, but that certainly looks interesting: “Tools of American Mathematics Teaching, 1800-2000“, by Peggy Aldrich Kidwell, Amy Ackerberg-Hastings, and David Lindsay Roberts. The book was published last year. Here is a taster of Alexander P. Karp’s excellent review of the book:
In today’s classrooms graphing calculators have become routine, yet thousands of teachers can easily recall a time when they did not exist. Not so with the blackboard, which seems to us something that is almost as old as the idea of education itself. This, however, is by no means the case. Two hundred years ago, and for several decades afterwards, blackboards were a novelty in American classrooms and their use was regarded as a particular feature of teaching style. And indeed, the transition from small tablets made of slate to a large blackboard for the whole class went along with a transition to working simultaneously with a large group of students—a transition that can hardly be viewed as anything other than fundamental.
Science & Education, February 2009
The February issue of Science & Education has been published. None of the articles in this issue are directly related to mathematics education, and the theme of the issue is “Politics and philosophy of science”. Still, the issue might be worth checking out, especially if you are interested in the above mentioned theme.
CERME 6
The CERME 6 conference starts today in Lyon, France. The conference is organized by ERME, which is the European society for Research in Mathematics Education. The main aims of ERME are to:
(…)to promote communication, cooperation and collaboration in research in mathematics education in Europe
Unfortunately, I am not attending the conference myself, so I am not going to report from it. If you want to learn more about the scientific program for the conference, you can find it here. Below is the location of the conference venue:
In search of an exemplary mathematics lesson in Hong Kong
Ida Ah Chee Mok has written an article that was published in ZDM on Thursday. The article is entitled In search of an exemplary mathematics lesson in Hong Kong: an algebra lesson on factorization of polynomials. The theoretical perspectives for this article are mathematical enculturation and the theory of learning through variation (variation theory). The study which is described in the article is part of the Learner’s Perspective Study (LPS). This study
(…) has engaged researchers in the investigation of mathematics classrooms of teachers in Australia, China, the Czech Republic, Germany, Israel, Japan, Korea, the Philippines, Singapore, South Africa, Sweden and the USA.
Here is the article abstract:
The author here describes an exemplary grade-8 algebra lesson in Hong Kong, taken from the data of the learners’ perspective study. The analysis presents a juxtaposition of the researcher’s analysis of the lesson with the teacher and students’ perspectives of the lesson. The researcher’s perspective applies the theory of variation for which the main concern of learning is the discernment of the key aspects of the object of learning and that the description of variations delineates the potential of the learning space. Some persistent features were illustrated, namely, the teacher talk was a major input in teaching; the technique of variation was used in the design of the mathematical problems and the dimensions of variation created in the class interaction provided a potential learning environment; the teacher taking seriously the student factor into account in his philosophy and practice. From the standpoint of enculturation, the teacher’s influence as an enculturator is intentional, significant and influential.
Problem-solving and cryptography
Tobin White has written an interesting article about cryptography and problem solving. The article is entitled Encrypted objects and decryption processes: problem-solving with functions in a learning environment based on cryptography, and the article was published online in Educational Studies in Mathematics on Thursday. Those of you who don’t have a subscription to this journal will be interested to know that the article is an Open Access article, and it is therefore available to all! (Direct link to pdf download) Here is the abstract of the article:
This paper introduces an applied problem-solving task, set in the context of cryptography and embedded in a network of computer-based tools. This designed learning environment engaged students in a series of collaborative problem-solving activities intended to introduce the topic of functions through a set of linked representations. In a classroom-based study, students were asked to imagine themselves as cryptanalysts, and to collaborate with the other members of their small group on a series of increasingly difficult problem-solving tasks over several sessions. These tasks involved decrypting text messages that had been encrypted using polynomial functions as substitution ciphers. Drawing on the distinction between viewing functions as processes and as objects, the paper presents a detailed analysis of two groups’ developing fluency with regard to these tasks, and of the aspects of the function concept underlying their problem-solving approaches. Results of this study indicated that different levels of expertise with regard to the task environment reflected and required different aspects of functions, and thus represented distinct opportunities to engage those different aspects of the function concept.
Reidar Mosvold 