Author: Reidar Mosvold

YESS-4, Day 7

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At the last day of YESS-4, Ferdinando Arzarello is going to deliver the main lecture. The topic for his talk is “Tools for analyzing learning processes in mathematics“. He starts off with a discussion of problems concerning What, Why, How and Goals:

  • What is necessary to observe in the classroom? (What)
  • Which theoretical frames are suitable to answer the What-problem? (Why)
  • How to observe all that is necessary? and How to interpret the observed data according to the assumed frame? (How)
  • How to improve consequent didactical practices in the classroom? (Goal)

YESS-4, Day 5

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At the 5th day of the YERME Summer School, Günter Törner is going to deliver the main lecture. His topic is “theory versus practice”, and you can learn more from the paper that is published on the YESS-4 website.

Törner has published a multitude of papers and books in mathematics (algebra, geometry and discrete mathematics) as well as mathematics education. Several of them are available on his website, so take a look at the links I just gave you!

YESS-4, Day 4

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The main lecture today at YESS-4 is held by Laurinda Brown. The theme of her main paper is: “Observing systems – how do we see what we see?”. She aims at discussing issues concerning observations, and she points at the necessity of including discussions of theoretical, methodological and philosophical issues.

For more information, you should read her CERME-4 article and an article from Educational Studies in Mathematics. Both are published on the YESS-4 website.

YESS-4, Day 3

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The main lecture at Day 3 of the YERME Summer School is held by Jean-Baptiste Lagrange. His talk will be concerning research about technology in mathematics education. Lagrange is going to look at different technologies with certain theoretical concerns:

  • programming with the reification theories,
  • microworlds with situated cognition,
  • spreadsheets and computer symbolic systems with the instrumental and anthropological approaches,
  • today fast developing web based technologies with the need for new approaches.

You can learn more if you read his ICME-paper or the other paper that is published on the YESS-4 website.

New book from Springer

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Springer has published a new book on Internationalisation and Globalisation in Mathematics and Science Education. The book was edited by Bill Atweh and others, and it is written for researchers and academics in mathematics and science education. Here is a copy of the publisher’s description of the book:

In the new times of globalisation, international academic contacts and collaborations are ever increasing. They are taking many forms, from international conferences and publications, student and academic exchange, cross cultural research projects, curriculum development to professional development activities and affect every aspect of academic life from teaching, research to service. This book aims to:

  • Develop theoretical frameworks of the phenomena of internationalisation and globalisation and identify related ethical, moral, political and economic issues facing mathematics and science educators.
  • Provide a venue for the publication of results of international comparisons on cultural differences and similarities rather than merely on achievement and outcomes.
  • Provide a forum for critical discussion of the various models and forms of international projects and collaborations.
  • Provide a representation of the different voices and interests from around the world rather than consensus on issues.

YESS-4, Day 2

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The main lecture at day 2 of the YERME Summer School will be held by Guershon Harel from University of California, San Diego. Harel’s talk will address two main issues in mathematics education:

  1. What is the mathematics that we should teach in school?
  2. How should we teach it?

To learn more about these issues, and the contents of Harel’s talk, you should read the articles that are published on the YESS-4 website (part I and part II).

Use of examples in elementary mathematics

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Tim Rowland has written an article about The purpose, design and use of examples in the teaching of elementary mathematics. This article was recently published (online) in Educational Studies in Mathematics. The article describes an interesting study that featured video recordings of 24 lessons that were taught by prospective teachers. Here is the abstract of the article:

This empirical paper considers the different purposes for which teachers use examples in elementary mathematics teaching, and how well the actual examples used fit these intended purposes. For this study, 24 mathematics lessons taught by prospective elementary school teachers were videotaped. In the spirit of grounded theory, the purpose of the analysis of these lessons was to discover, and to construct theories around, the ways that these novice teachers could be seen to draw upon their mathematics teaching knowledge-base in their lesson preparation and in their observed classroom instruction. A highly-pervasive dimension of the findings was these teachers’ choice and use of examples. Four categories of uses of examples are identified and exemplified: these are related to different kinds of teacher awareness.

YERME Summer School

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This week, the 4th version of YERME Summer School (YESS-4) is organized in Turkey. The venue for the summer school is Karadeniz Technical University in Trabzon, near the Black Sea. KTU is a public research university with 30.000 students. There are about 40 master and PhD-students in mathematics education.

The summer school has a very interesting program, and although I am not able to attend it myself, I will try and cover it in my blog.

YESS-4 features a panel of distinguished experts, who will deliver the main lectures:

  • Prof.Dr. Guershon Harel, University of California (USA)
  • Prof.Dr. Linda Brown, University of Bristol (England)
  • Prof.Dr. Jean-Baptiste Lagrange, IUFM De Reims Paris VII University (France)
  • Prof.Dr. Günter Törner, Universität Duisburg-Essen Standort (Germany)
  • Prof.Dr. Ferdinando Arzarello, Università di Torino (Italy)

These experts will be leading the five working groups throughout the week.

The opening talk will be held this afternoon by Barbara Jaworski.

Links:

JMTE, August 2008

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Showing you’re working

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Garrod Musto has written an article that was recently published in Teaching Mathematics and its Applications. The article is entitled Showing you’re working: a project using former pupils’ experiences to engage current mathematics students, and here is the abstract:

To help students view mathematics in a more favourable light, a number of former pupils were contacted and asked to give details of how they use mathematics in their daily lives. This information was gathered through an online questionnaire or visits to the school to talk to pupils—a booklet of responses was also given to students. Attitudinally pre- and post-testing students suggested that this initiative helped address pupils’ concerns regarding the purpose of classroom mathematics. The diversity of professions also helped dispel many myths about the usefulness of mathematics. Subsequently, the project has proven to be a catalyst for a range of cross-curricular projects and events inspired by the former pupils’ case studies, all of which serve to continue to address the initial aims of the project regarding pupil perception of the subject, in the light of both workplace and everyday life.