| 1. |
- Walla, Maria
(author)
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Matematik i förskoleklass : En studie om bedömning och matematikundervisning vid skolstart
- 2024
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Doctoral thesis (other academic/artistic)abstract
- This thesis is about assessment and education in early mathematics. The aim is to develop knowledge about mathematics assessment in the Swedish preschool class and about how an equal mathematics education based on this assessment can be designed.In Sweden, children begin preschool class at the age of six. In 2019, national assessment of mathematics was made mandatory in preschool class with the aim of assessing the mathematical thinking of all six-year-olds as they start school. To address the aim of the thesis, three studies were conducted: a document study, a focus group study, and an educational design research study. In the document study, assessment material for six-year-olds in Sweden and Norway was analysed. In the focus group study, four focus group interviews about early assessment with a total of 12 preschool class teachers were conducted. In the educational design research, four cycles of planning, implementation, and evaluation of mathematics education were conducted in a classroom with 18 preschool class students. Two theories were used: discourse analysis by Gee in study one and study two, and communities of practice by Wenger in study three. The findings of study one show a diversity of discourses both between and within the assessment materials of Sweden and Norway, indicating different views on when to assess, on what knowledge to assess, and on how and why to assess. The findings of study two show a diversity of discourses with different meanings ascribed to early mathematics education and equity. The findings of study three show that it is possible to develop mathematics education in a way that contributes to equity in mathematics, based on the assessment. Together, the findings of these studies indicate that teachers’ views on equity may affect the extent to which assessment may contribute to equity in early mathematics education. Furthermore, the results show that mathematics education in preschool class can be understood as unique, where the uniqueness is about how and why the mathematics education is carried out the way it is. However, mathematics education in preschool class can also be understood as changing as a result of challenges that come with the new national assessment for preschool class.
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| 2. |
- Arnell, Sofie, 1984-
(author)
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Elevers möten med matematik : En studie om elevers möten med matematik i förskoleklass och årskurs 1
- 2021
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Doctoral thesis (other academic/artistic)abstract
- Många och positiva tidiga möten med matematik är betydelsefulla för barns och elevers matematiklärande. Avhandlingens syfte är att bidra med kunskap om elevers möten med matematik i förskoleklass och årskurs 1 genom att undersöka, analysera och beskriva dem. Ytterligare ett syfte är att redogöra för likheter och skillnader i elevers möten med matematik i förskoleklass och årskurs 1 för att bidra till ökad förståelse kring faktorer som kan påverka elevers möjligheter att utveckla förståelse för skolmatematiken. En empirisk studie genomfördes, där en elevgrupp och dess lärare följdes från höstterminen i förskoleklass till höstterminen i årskurs 1. Data samlades in genom deltagande observationer och informella samtal. Materialet analyserades sedan i två steg; först gjordes en empirinära analys och därefter en teoretisk analys utifrån begrepp hämtade från verksamhetsteorin. Resultatet visar att elevers möten med matematik i förskoleklass och årskurs 1 sker på en mängd olika sätt. Mötena kan relateras till tre olika typer av matematikverksamheter i både förskoleklassen och årskurs 1, vilka erbjuder eleverna olika lärandemöjligheter. Av dessa verksamheter framgår även att matematikundervisningen är mer formell i årskurs 1 än i förskoleklassen. Det visar sig i att eleverna har högre handlingsfrihet i förskoleklassen än i årskurs 1 och att det finns ett starkare fokus på matematiska begrepp och metoder i årskurs 1 än i förskoleklassen. Dessa skillnader kan vidare få negativa konsekvenser för kontinuiteten i elevernas matematiklärande.
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| 3. |
- Palmér, Hanna, 1974-
(author)
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To become, or not to become, a primary school mathematics teacher : A study of novice teachers’ professional identity development
- 2013
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Doctoral thesis (other academic/artistic)abstract
- This thesis is about the process of becoming, or not becoming, a primary school mathematics teacher. The aim is to understand and describe the professional identity development of novice primary school mathematics teachers from the perspective of the novice teachers themselves.The study is a case study with an ethnographic direction where seven novice teachers have been followed from their graduation and two years onwards. The ethnographic direction has been used to make visible the whole process of identity development, both the individual and the social part. The empirical material in the study consists of self-recordings made by the respondents, observations and interviews. The empirical material is analysed in two different but co-operating ways. First a conceptual framework was developed and used as a lens. Second, methods inspired by grounded theory are used. The purpose of using them both is to retain the perspective of the respondents as far as possible.At the time of graduation the respondents are members in a community of reform mathematics teaching and they want to reform mathematics teaching in schools. In their visions they strive away from their own experiences of mathematics in school and practice periods. Four cases are presented closely in the thesis as they show four various routes into, and out of, the teaching profession. These four cases make visible that the respondents’ patterns of participation regarding teaching mathematics changes when they become members in new communities of practice with mathematics teaching as part of the shared repertoire. But, the four cases also make visible that the existence of such communities of practice seems to be rare and that the respondents’ different working conditions limit their possibilities of becoming members in those that exist. During the time span of this study, the respondents hardly receive any feedback for their performance as mathematics teachers. Even if they teach mathematics they don´t teach it as they would like to and they don´t think of themselves as mathematics teachers. Two years after graduation none of the respondents has developed a professional identity as primary school mathematics teacher.A primary school teacher in Sweden is a teacher of many subjects but they are the first teachers to teach our school children mathematics. For the respondents to develop a sense of themselves as a kind of primary school mathematics teacher, mathematics teaching has to become part of their teacher identities. For this to become possible, mathematics must become a part of their image of a primary school teacher as an image of a primary school mathematics teacher. Furthermore memberships in communities of practice with mathematics in the shared repertoire must be accessible, both during teacher education and after graduation. Then professional identity development as a primary school teacher would include becoming and being a teacher of mathematics.
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| 4. |
- Wallin, Anna, 1975-
(author)
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Fritidshemmets matematik : Möten som räknas
- 2022
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Doctoral thesis (other academic/artistic)abstract
- The aim of this thesis is to investigate mathematics in the context of Swedish extended education, namely, school-age educare. The research builds on investigating and identifying possible meanings of mathematics in school-age educare practice. Two overarching research questions support this work: How is mathematics formulated in school-age educare through enactment processes and what does this imply for students and staff? What characterises school-age educare mathematics in relation to the material-discursive practices that can be created intra-actively?The thesis deals with the ideas of mathematical activities, informal mathematics, and materialities in entanglement with bodily actions in playful and creative settings. The research questions are addressed in five articles which together address the phenomenon of mathematics in school-age educare from diverse angles—from a broad perspective that frames enactments of policy documents in practice, to a narrower perspective of mathematical activities in entanglements with bodily actions and material engagements. Data were produced from fieldwork at two educare centres, and involved observations, interviews, and written communications. Additional material consists of interviews with teachers and their work on registering mathematical activities in the practice.Theoretical stances shifted during the research process—from a human-centred perspective to a non-human-centred, non-hierarchical and flat ontology. Theoretical tools include: the three aspects of policy enactment theory (interpretative, material, and discursive), activities and values associated with enculturation, and agential realism from a posthumanist perspective. In a broad sense, the theoretical tools were used to analyse actions and expressions related to the phenomenon of mathematics in school-age educare. My findings relate to school-age educare mathematics in enactment orientations, in activities and values, and in bodily and material engagements. One finding is that there were four enactment orientations regarding mathematics being enacted in educare which highlight perspectives of mathematical positioning, use of materials, and interpretations of policy documents in practice. Another finding relates to the conceptualisation of mathematical activities and values of school-age educare as a way of complementing school mathematics. The concept of mathemat-ing is construed based on findings. Mathemat-ing is defined as a special case of mathematical events, embracing bodily actions, creations, engagements, and ethical sensibilities in entanglements with materials. Assessment is not included in the conceptualisation of mathemat-ing. My findings indicate that mathematics in school-age educare is created within the involvement in material-discursive practice. Together my findings suggest an approach to mathematics embracing children to “be within” mathemat-ing events and become mathematical.
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| 5. |
- Danielsson, Kristina, Professor, 1961-, et al.
(author)
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Pupils creating digital animations in the early years of schooling
- 2023
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In: Designing Futures the 11th international conference on multimodality. - : UCL. ; , s. 76-77
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Conference paper (peer-reviewed)abstract
- The use of computers and other digital tools such as tablets, smartboards and game consoles is rapidly becoming a reality in early-childhood educational settings and the early years of schooling. Thus, an important question is what potential digital tools and digital resources has - when integrated in educational practices - to increase pupils’ meaning making. Therefore, the aim of this project is to explore ‘what’s happening’ and ‘what’s possible’ when pupils (6–8 years) are part of teaching and learning practices involving digital tools, in this case when jointly creating multimodal digital animations to communicate ideas and tell stories in the subjects Mathematics, Science, and Swedish.The theoretical base is Designs for Learning (DfL) (Björklund Boistrup & Selander 2022), where teaching and learning are seen as a form of multimodal design. According to that perspective, the teacher designs learning activities, giving the pupils access to different resources to enable meaning making, while the pupils’ meaning making process is seen as a kind of re-design, based on, e.g., available resources, interests and previous experiences. In our analysis, we utilize the Learning Design Sequence (LDS) model, developed within DfL. To enable fine-tuned detailed analysis of pupils’ multimodal interaction, classroom activities with pupils working in pairs were video-recorded. Moreover, the pupils’ multimodal texts (writing, drawings, digital animations, etc.) were collected. The analysis revealed, e.g., that the different material resources provided in the teachers’ design for learning (e.g., paper, pencils, crayons, or digital tools) to a great extent steered what happened and became possible for the pupils in terms of negotiating, contributing, making suggestions, and making conscious choices of signs to use in their multimodal texts (both paper-based and digital).
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| 6. |
- Ebbelind, Andreas, Dr, 1975-, et al.
(author)
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Bedömning i förskolan
- 2023
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In: Den utbildningsvetenskapliga kärnan för förskolan. - : Natur och kultur. - 9789127464872 ; , s. 316-333
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Book chapter (other academic/artistic)
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| 7. |
- Ebbelind, Andreas, Dr, 1975-, et al.
(author)
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Förskoleklasselever utforskar kombinatorik genom digitala animeringar
- 2023
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In: Utbildning och Lärande / Education and Learning. - : Högskolan Dalarna. - 2001-4554. ; 17:4
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- The focus of this article is on digital tools as part of mathematics education with six-year-olds. More explicitly, we study how the creation of digital animations, as a part of working on a problem-solving task, enables young students’ learning of combinatorics. In the article, the creation of digital animations implies that the students re-design, that is, recreate their solution procedure with a digital application. The aim with letting the young students create digital animations is diverse. We presume that such work enables problem solving as well as the learning of combinatorics, but also that it has potential to enable creativity and agency in learning. Video-documentations from three classrooms where students work on the problem-solving task were analysed from a multimodal perspective where teaching is seen as a design process. In that process, the teacher designs learning activities that give students access to different resources for their meaning making process. The results show that working with digital animations, when integrated in a learning design sequence, amplify students’ learning of combinatorics.
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| 8. |
- Ebbelind, Andreas, Dr, 1975-, et al.
(author)
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Six-year-olds create digital animations to reinforce mathematical problem solving
- 2022
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In: Book of Abstracts ‘Cultures of play: Actors, Affordances and Arenas’ Glasgow, Scotland 23<sup>rd</sup> – 26<sup>th</sup> August 2022.
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Conference paper (peer-reviewed)abstract
- The aim is to investigate how digital play with animations may contribute to children’s (six-year-olds) learning of combinatorics, in this case how three toy bears can be arranged in a row on a sofa (i.e. permutations for n = 3). English (2005) showed that a well-organised and meaningful context facilitates young children’s possibilities to explore combinatorial situations. This study builds on Palmér & van Bommel (2020) who investigated the role of and connection between systematization, representation and digital artefacts in children’s work with combinatorial tasks. Their study showed that the use of digital artefacts may enhance children’s understanding of combinatorial problems. This study builds on designs for learning (Kress & Selander 2010), including multimodal theories. A central model is the Learning Design Sequence (LDS) model. The study is qualitative in nature, combining the LDS model with multimodal analysis. Activities, in three different classrooms, where the children worked in pairs with the combinatoric task with paper/pens and with creating digital animations were video documented. Video-documentations (150 minutes) from three pairs of children were analysed qualitatively according to the LDS model focusing on the children’s understanding of the mathematical content. The study conforms to the ethical regulations for research in Sweden. All participating teachers, children, and guardians approved their participation. Creating digital animations enhanced the children’s understanding of combinatorics. The digital animations were more systematic with more permutations than the paper and pencil documentation. The study contributes with implications for how digital play with animations can be integrated in early mathematics education.
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| 9. |
- Engvall, Sara, 1984-
(author)
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Opening the black box of mathematics teachers’ professional growth : a study of the process of teacher learning
- 2019
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Doctoral thesis (other academic/artistic)abstract
- There is a lot of research done on professional development programs for teachers, especially with a focus on different characteristics of the program and whether it makes teachers change their teaching practice to such an extent that it enhances student achievement. However, there is not much research done on the learning process. As long as we do not open the black box of teacher learning it is difficult to say anything about what characteristics in a professional development program actually are important for teachers to learn, develop and grow as professionals.The aim of the thesis is to better understand the process of teacher learning while participating in aprofessional development program. The focus is on different aspects of the process of teacher professional growth, as well as on external factors that have an impact on the process of learning. The participants are secondary school teachers that participated in a professional development program in formative assessment. The data have been collected during and after the professional development program took place. Different types of data have been used in this thesis; teacher interviews, classroom observations and questionnaires, and have been collected over a time period of two and a half years. In two of the included papers the studies focus on four mathematics teachers, and the learning process is explored from two different perspectives: how the professional growth can develop, and how their testing of formative assessment activities relates to their understanding of formative assessment. In one of the papers all secondary school teachers are included and a comparison in expectancy of being able to use high quality formative assessment after the professional development program between the mathematics teachers and the other teachers were conducted. In the fourth paper focus is on all mathematics teachers in the study and their motivation are investigated over a time period of two years.The four papers take different perspectives to explore the professional growth for teachers while participating in a professional development program in formative assessment. The results show the complexity of teacher learning and indicate that large-scale implementations risk being inefficient and not reach the intended goals.
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| 10. |
- Holmgren, Karoline, 1970-
(author)
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Mål, matematik och mening : om identitet i mötet med gymnasieskolans yrkesprogram
- 2024
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Doctoral thesis (other academic/artistic)abstract
- Obtaining a final diploma is an important prerequisite for young people to avoid unemployment and exclusion. Therefore, it is worrying that every year a large group of vocational students in Sweden complete their education without obtaining a final diploma. A national survey shows that the biggest obstacle to achieving a final diploma is the compulsory mathematics course.The aim of this thesis is therefore to contribute knowledge about vocational students’ encounters with upper secondary school, with a particular focus on the mathematics course and students’ ability to achieve the goals. Central to the thesis is students’ identity formation in the environment that the upper secondary school’s vocational education entails. The thesis presents two studies that build on each other: The first study examines school staff’s descriptions of what may affects vocational students’ goal fulfillment in mathematics to provide a broad and comprehensive picture from several different school actors (teachers, student health and principals). Based on the results the second study examines vocational students’ own stories with a special focus on students’ identity formation, analyzing their narratives based on four dimensions; personal-, social-, subject- and professional dimension.Overall, the results of the two studies show that other aspects than just subject-didactic factors seem to play an important role in vocational students’ goal fulfillment in mathematics. The identity formation invocational students’ encounters with upper secondary school seems to be one such aspect: Mathematics failures during former school, the importance of vocational students’ sense of belonging together as well as discourses in school and society about vocational education, vocational students, and the subject of mathematics, have a significant impact on students’ identity formation. Being a student in upper secondary vocational education encompasses a web of relationships and connections between personal identity, social identity, subject identity, and professional identity, which means that learning as well as development takes place in all these four dimensions. Therefore, social and emotional processes as well as vocational students’ identity formation should not be forgotten in the discussion about how vocational students’ goal fulfillment in mathematics can be improved. Conclusions that can be drawn are that if school difficulties arise, i.e. that vocational students are at risk of not reaching the goals, supportive efforts should focus on all four dimensions of vocational student identity.
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