| 1. |
- Knutsson, Malin, 1978-, et al.
(författare)
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School-based mathematics teacher education in Sweden and Finland : characterizing mentor – prospective teacher discourse
- 2013
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Ingår i: The Eighth Congress of the European Society for Research in Mathematics Education. Feb 6th - Feb 10th, 2013. - Antalya, Turkey. - 9789754293159
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Konferensbidrag (refereegranskat)abstract
- Despite many similarities between the neighbouring countries Sweden and Finland, prior studies indicate that conceptualizations and discourses about school-based teacher education are very different. In this paper we add to this picture of differences, and contribute to the research discourse about school-based teacher education, by identifying and characterizing aspects of mathematics teaching made relevant in review meetings between mentors and prospective primary teachers. While the Swedish discourse typically focuses on the students’ individual work with textbooks, connections to everyday experiences and teaching as individual supervision, the Finnish discourse emphasizes lesson aims, learning and progression in mathematics through formative assessment and differentiation according to pupils’ abilities
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| 2. |
- Ahl, Linda, 1970-
(författare)
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Approaching Curriculum Resources : Examining the potential of textbooks and teacher guides to support mathematics learning and teaching
- 2014
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Licentiatavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- The driving forces of conducting the two studies presented in this thesis are: the strong position of curriculum resources in the mathematics classroom in general; teachers’ faith in curriculum resources to convey the intentions and goals of mathematics education; and the expected benefits to mathematics education through expanding the knowledge base of research in the area of curriculum resources in general, and teacher guides in particular. This thesis builds upon two studies conducted in Sweden. The first is a study on how teachers use teacher guides. The results of this study could be seen as one piece in the building of a theoretical understanding of how teachers use their tools in planning and enacting teaching. The data for Study I were collected through semi-structured interviews with five early-years mathematics teachers. In advance, the teachers were asked to copy the pages from the teacher guide they had used the week before the interview. The analysis of the interviews shows that less experienced teachers desire a wider scope of content in their teacher guide. More experienced teachers desire support from teaching activities, in the design of teaching in classroom practice. Another interesting result was that all teachers in our study, regardless of prior experience, knowledge, beliefs, etc., want the teacher guide to offer connections between theory and practice. The second study investigates what content is represented in Swedish textbooks. The results of this study map the terrain over how the most commonly used textbooks in Sweden construct the topic of proportion and proportional reasoning. My choice of textbooks is based on a questionnaire among all compulsory school mathematics teachers in the sixth largest municipality in Sweden, revealing that two curriculum resources together covered 97% of the classrooms in Grades 7-9. The study provides insights into the strengths and weaknesses in the presented structure regarding proportional reasoning in the most commonly used textbooks in Swedish lower secondary school. Teachers could use these insights when making decisions about how to use their textbooks, and to possibly reconsider how to organize the enactment of the national curriculum in order to develop deep understanding. The analyses could provide authors of teacher guides and textbooks with valuable information to consider regarding structure and design.
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| 3. |
- Andrews, Paul, 1954-, et al.
(författare)
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PISA, TIMSS and Finnish mathematics teaching : an enigma in search of an explanation
- 2014
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Ingår i: Educational Studies in Mathematics. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 0013-1954 .- 1573-0816. ; 87:1, s. 7-26
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Finnish students’ success on all three content domains of each of the four cycles ofthe OECD’s Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) has created muchinternational interest. It has also prompted Finnish academics to offer systemic explanationstypically linked to the structural qualities of Finnish schooling and teacher education. Lesswell-known has been the modest mathematics performance of Finnish grade 8 students on thetwo Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS) in which Finland hasparticipated, which, when compared with its PISA successes, has created something of anenigma. In this paper, we attempt to shed light on this enigma through analyses of Finnishmathematics classroom practice that draw on two extant data sets—interviews with Finnishteacher educators and video-recordings of sequences of lessons taught on standard topics. Dueto the international interest in Finnish PISA success, the analyses focus primarily on theresonance between classroom practice and the mathematical literacy component of the PISAassessment framework. The analyses indicate that Finnish mathematics didactics are morelikely to explain the modest TIMSS achievements than PISA successes and allude to severalfactors thought to be unique to the Finns, which, unrelated to mathematics teaching practices,may be contributory to the repeated Finnish PISA successes. Some implications for policyborrowingare discussed.
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| 4. |
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| 5. |
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| 6. |
- Hemmi, Kirsti, et al.
(författare)
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The culture of the mathematics classroom during the first school years in Finland and Sweden
- 2014
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Ingår i: <em>Mathematics and Transition to School - International Perspectives</em>. - Singapore : Springer. - 9789812872142 ; , s. 185-199
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Bokkapitel (refereegranskat)abstract
- This chapter elaborates findings from a longitudinal ongoing cross-cultural study comparing the teacher education and classroom practices in Finland and Sweden. The focus is on the cultural scripts of mathematics instruction during the first school years (ages 6-8). Firstly, we present a description of the contexts of each country concerning primary teacher education and the transition from pre-school to school. We then characterize the dominating conceptualizations of the mathematics classroom practices for the early years in both countries, building on several analyses of different data sources. We focus especially on the intricate balance between flexibly building mathematics on pupils’ ideas of familiar everyday phenomena within a thematic teaching style on the one hand, and on the other, the organization of learning environments strictly based on a predetermined hypothetical learning trajectory (Clements & Sarama, 2007). Finally, we discuss our findings in light of the international literature on early mathematics education and transition from pre-school to school.
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| 7. |
- Jankvist, Uffe, et al.
(författare)
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Future challenges of mathematics education research in the Nordic region : Young researchers’ perspective
- 2011
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Ingår i: Proceedings of NORMA 11. - Reijkjavik : University of Iceland Press. - 9789979549659
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Konferensbidrag (refereegranskat)abstract
- In the last decade research in mathematics education has grown and consolidated in the Nordic countries. New and younger researchers are entering the field as a result of the organization of solid doctoral programs and the growth of teaching and research environments in higher education institutions. The social, cultural and economic contexts of our countries have also changed in the last decade. The question of which are the main challenges for research in the years to come is worth exploring for a community starting a new decade of work. The intention of the panel is to generate a discussion in the community by having young researchers present their views on: (1) which topics of research the Nordic region has contributed to the world and that deserve being strengthened in the future; (2) which new topics of research that may become relevant as social changes pose new demands on our knowledge and understanding of the practices of mathematics education in the educational system; and (3) which institutional affordances and constraints young researchers experience for the development of research
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| 8. |
- Koljonen, Tuula
(författare)
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Finnish Teacher Guides in Mathematics : Resources for primary school teachers in designing teaching
- 2014
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Licentiatavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Previous research worldwide has shown that curriculum materials maintain a strong presence and constitute an important tool, artefact, in mathematics classrooms. Yet, there is a vast lack of research on the design and the characteristics of teacher guides. The thesis aims to: 1) investigate the features of the Finnish teacher guides for mathematics at primary school and 2) map the cultural specificities and norms for classroom practices as construed in Finnish teacher guides. The data consist of nine Finnish teacher guides in mathematics (belonging to three textbook series) for Grades 1-6 and comprise almost 90 percent of the teacher guides utilized in Finnish schools for 2008. These teacher guides are examined through three studies. In the first study, we developed an analytical tool based on Davis and Krajcik’s ideas about educative curriculum materials when analysing the teacher guides’ content. In the second study, we analysed a larger sample of the Finnish teacher guides using the same analytical tool, but extending the study to also analyse their form, i.e. their look, structure and voice. This study shows that there is a wide consensus on both the content and the form of the guides. While several educative aspects are weakly presented in the guides, the analysis shows that they offer rich and varied resources for teachers in their everyday work in designing and enacting mathematics teaching and hence, learning in practice. The third study delves more deeply into the characteristics of the support the guides offer to design mathematics classrooms. We characterize the cultural script of the reflected classroom practice by analysing the form and the function of the activities promoted in most of the guides. We found a relatively homogeneous script that promotes differentiation while keeping students in the same mathematical area, opportunities to participate in whole-class interaction that comprises a variety of activities, like mental calculation, games, problem-solving, individual and group work, and small piece of homework after every single lesson. The thesis contributes to the international research discourse on curriculum materials and in particular on teacher guides as resources for design of mathematics classroom in a specific educational context. The study is also of interest for teachers, and for text-book authors in developing teacher guides in line with research.
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| 9. |
- Larsson, Maria, et al.
(författare)
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Balancing on the edge of competency-oriented versus procedural-oriented practices : orchestrating whole-class discussions of complex mathematical problems
- 2012
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Ingår i: Mathematics Education Research Journal. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 1033-2170 .- 2211-050X. ; 24:4, s. 447-465
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Establishing and maintaining key mathematical practices in wholeclass discussions, such as justifying claims, representing mathematical objects and making connections between the representations, is crucial to the development of students' mathematical competencies. The aim of this article is to investigate how and why the establishment of key mathematical practices in whole-class discussions varies in a teaching mathematics through problemsolving project. Analyses of transcribed video-recorded whole-class discussions result in the suggestion that the complexity of the mathematical problem itself as well as the complexity related to teaching the problem may contribute to more procedure-oriented practices instead of competency-oriented practices that create opportunities for the students to develop their mathematical competencies on a broad front. However, the results also suggest that the teaching of complex mathematical problems might develop the teacher's establishment and maintenance of key mathematical practices. Researchers initiating an intervention project hence have to consider both the students' and the teacher's learning trajectories, which might not always coincide. Other important aspects for the researcher to consider are discussed and pointed out as important areas for future research, such as how explicit introduction of appropriate frameworks may support teachers in learning to teach mathematics through problem solving.
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| 10. |
- Larsson, Maria, 1975-, et al.
(författare)
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EFFECTIVE TEACHING THROUGH PROBLEM-SOLVING BY SEQUENCING AND CONNECTING STUDENT SOLUTIONS
- 2011
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Ingår i: <em>Proceedings of NORMA11: The sixth Nordic conference on mathematics education in Reykjavik, May 11-14 2011 </em>. - Reykjavik : University of Iceland Press. - 9789979549659 ; , s. 425-434
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Konferensbidrag (refereegranskat)abstract
- How can researchers support teachers in the complexity of orchestrating productive mathematical whole-class discussions based on students’ solutions to challenging problems? This study has two aims: Firstly, to study how the teacher can select, sequence and connect different student solutions in order to effectively orchestrate mathematical whole-class discussions. Secondly, to critically reflect on the role of the researchers in this intervention project. Analyses of audio recorded interviews and video recorded whole-class discussions result in suggestions for how student solutions can be sequenced in this particular case to set the scene for connecting them with each other and with key mathematical ideas. We further critically reflect on how we as researchers can improve our work in supporting practicing teachers.
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