Describing primary mathematics lessons observed in the Leverhulme Numeracy Research Programme: A qualitative framework (2024)

International Group For the Psychology of Mathematics Education, 2005

The purpose of this paper is to examine how it is possible to relate the way that students perceive, act on and speak about objects in geometry class. We aim to identify conditions on the situation, role, place and contribution of the teacher that allow language to be operative in geometry class. Therefore, our contribution will provide a theoretical tool in construction, called "frequentation mode" and based on the analysis of a «transmitter-receiver " situation in a geometry classroom in France at primary school.

School of Curriculum Faculty of Education, 2013

The research is a study of the Husserlian approach to intuition, as it is substantiated by Hintikka and informed by Merleau-Ponty, in the case of a prospective teacher of mathematics. It is a case study of one student, based on data collected from a course where the students were free to choose their own ways of exploring the tasks while working in groups, without the teacher's guidance. A phenomenological approach that takes objects as self-given and analyses the student's decisive intuition reveals how empirical objects surfaced from his investigation within his group and during the exploration that followed at home. The research exemplifies Husserl's intuition of essences through the three steps of the synthesis of coincidence and its apodictic potential for generalisations. It argues for the essential part that intuition plays in the construction of mathematical objects.

Proceedings of the Seventh Conference on Research in Mathematics Education in Ireland (MEI 7), 2019

It is with great pleasure that we present the following proceedings from the Seventh Conference on Research in Mathematics Education in Ireland (MEI 7), which took place in Dublin City University in October, 2019. Our conference theme Mathematical Literacy, throughout and beyond education aims to foreground learners’ engagement with mathematics at all stages of the education system, and their development of mathematical proficiency within and beyond formal classroom settings. Mathematical literacy encompasses a learner’s proficiency to engage fluently with mathematical concepts, andto apply mathematical thinking in non-routine and novel situations. Mathematically literate children and adults recognise the mathematics in a situation, and understand how to mathematise a scenario in order to problem solve. Equally, mathematical literacy includes the capacity to interpret and analyse scenarios presented through mathematics. Mathematically literate individuals are thus less vulnerable to being convinced by inaccurate interpretations of data and mathematics. A key aspect of mathematical literacy is fluency in expressing one’smathematical thinking in a clear and convincing manner.The notion of what it means to be mathematically literate is to a large extent dependent on the context in which mathematics is used. Some consider performance in examinations to be a determinant of the level of mathematical literacy. However, successfully completing daily activities and routines such as travelling and cooking all rely on fundamental mathematical literacy, for example, knowledge of distance, time, weight and temperature. For educators, mathematical literacy encompasses far more than an ability to do mathematicsoneself, but also to be able to ascertain where the learner is at in their mathematical understanding and to scaffold and extend that learning.The education system in Ireland plays a key role in developing the mathematical literacy of all learners, to support full engagement with 21st century society. Central to such active citizenship is the propensity to apply mathematical concepts beyond the walls of the various classrooms where mathematics is taught; at primary, secondary and third levels. In these proceedings of MEI 7, we present papers that reflect a broad variety of mathematical research that is taking place in Ireland and further afield. Collectively, the authors seek to solidifyand progress the research field of mathematics education, throughout and beyond Ireland.

International Group for the …, 2008

This paper focuses on students’ awareness of the distinction between the concepts of function and arbitrary relation. This issue is linked to the discrimination between dependent and independent variables. The research is based on data collected from asample of students in the Department of Mathematics at the University of Athens. A number of factors were anticipated and confirmed, as follows. Firstly, student difficulties involved vague, obscure or even incorrect beliefs in the asymmetric nature of the variables involved, and the priority of the dependent variable. Secondly, there were some difficulties in distinguishing a function from an arbitrary relation. It was also thought thatadditional problems occur in the connotations of the Greek word for function, suggesting the need for additional research into different linguistic environments.

International Group for the Psychology of …, 2006

PME CONFERENCE, 2001

BACKGROUND In the summary of findings (Coles, 2000) from a one year teacher-research grant (awarded by the UK's Teacher Training Agency (TTA)) I identified teaching strategies that were effective in establishing a 'need for algebra'(Brown and Coles 1999) in a year 7 class (students aged 11-12 years) whom I taught. Evidence for students finding a 'need for algebra'was that they were able to ask their own questions about complex mathematical situations and structure their approach to working on these questions.

International Group for the Psychology of …, 2008

WORKING GROUP 12. From a study of teaching practices to issues in teacher education 1819, 2012

METHODS We look at the detail of our practice, what we do, using the strategy of giving 'accounts-of'(Mason, 2002, p. 268) significant incidents for us, often recognised through dissonance (Festinger, 1957; Brown and Dobson, 1996) and reflecting on, or accounting for those incidents to probe our motivations and implicit beliefs and theories (Claxton, 1996). The research process of interacting theory and data with the re-tellings of the stories (Bateson, 1979; Bruner, 1990) from our practice over time is essential to our work since, in ...

International Group for the Psychology of …, 2006