Zdm-Mathematics Education最新文献

Much of the mathematics that children experience in school neglect the skills increasingly needed for citizenship, particularly the power of complex data to investigate and make sense of the world. We draw on the relatively new field of data science as a multi-disciplinary approach to investigate problems through analysis of massive, non-standard, incongruous and/or messy data. Our exploratory qualitative study had as its research question: What can children learn about citizenship when they engage with data science? The case study in this paper illustrated ways that children's learning about citizenship were enriched through an age-appropriate data science investigation. The study analysed classroom video from a Year 4 classroom (aged 9-10) over six lessons that integrated curricula in digital technologies, health, and mathematics. In these lessons, the children generated and analysed non-standard data and debated social, well-being and privacy issues as they considered their activities in cyberspace. The video data were analysed using a framework based on critical citizenship education literature that examined dimensions of power, collective engagement, individual responsibility and action. Three key findings emerged. First, the case study highlighted skills in citizenship education developed through data science, positioning children as agents and advocates. Second, the study showed how a complex data investigation in citizenship education was achievable with primary children through meaningful curriculum integration. This is important given that problems that citizens address are typically interdisciplinary. Finally, the findings revealed a gap between data science skills and those developed in the mathematics curriculum, and recommend ways that the maths curriculum could be updated.

The Covid-19 pandemic and subsequent national lockdown in South Africa induced a rapid, albeit challenging, implementation of blended learning (with a strong online focus) at all educational levels. During this time, a group of teachers were involved in a specialised computer integrated education course, preparing them for the design and implementation of technologically enhanced modes of teaching. In this research we considered the positive impact of the situation during the pandemic on these mathematics teachers' practice, as well as their conceptualisation of the way forward for technology enhanced mathematics education. We conducted an explorative survey study, employing an enactivist approach, to investigate their experiences of addressing procedural and conceptual aspects of mathematics education, as well as their observations of learners' reactions to these changed practices. Our findings show that participants experienced their exposure to technology as creating an environment they foresee will have a lasting impact on their teaching practice. Participants emphasised the importance of using educational technology meaningfully as a cognitive tool that allows for learners to learn with the technology and not from the technology, which impacts on the importance of learner-centred teaching strategies and the development of high cognitive level interactive learning activities.

The research on which we report in this paper was framed within the socioepistemological theory and dealt with the fundamental role of variational practices in the understanding of COVID-19 pandemic graphs. Given the proliferation of mathematical graphs related to the pandemic in the media, we proposed to analyse the variational practices in use in the interpretation of graphs of exponential behaviour that a Chilean newscast of high rating used to inform the population about the pandemic in Chile. For this purpose, a thematic analysis intertwined with documentary analysis techniques was carried out, in order to describe the types of graphs shown in the newscast, and a variational reference system was studied to analyse the use of variational practices. To obtain our results, the types of graphs most frequently shown in the newscast at the beginning of the pandemic were identified and the use of the variational practices of comparison, seriation and prediction in such graphs was analysed. In conclusion, the need is discussed for the conceptual evolution of the exponential function to be accompanied by a pragmatic evolution in school that favours the use and development of variational practices in the student body.

Mathematical concepts are regularly used in media reports concerning the Covid-19 pandemic. These include growth models, which attempt to explain or predict the effectiveness of interventions and developments, as well as the reproductive factor. Our contribution has the aim of showing that basic mental models about exponential growth are important for understanding media reports of Covid-19. Furthermore, we highlight how the coronavirus pandemic can be used as a context in mathematics classrooms to help students understand that they can and should question media reports on their own, using their mathematical knowledge. Therefore, we first present the role of mathematical modelling in achieving these goals in general. The same relevance applies to the necessary basic mental models of exponential growth. Following this description, based on three topics, namely, investigating the type of growth, questioning given course models, and determining exponential factors at different times, we show how the presented theoretical aspects manifest themselves in teaching examples when students are given the task of reflecting critically on existing media reports. Finally, the value of the three topics regarding the intended goals is discussed and conclusions concerning the possibilities and limits of their use in schools are drawn.

After about two years of emergency remote teaching during the pandemic, the teaching of mathematics is slowly returning to (what used to be called) normal. However, after the period of mostly teaching online, there is uncertainty about the extent to which we will return to the way we were teaching before. In this survey paper we attempt to give some background to the impact that emergency remote teaching may have had on teaching mathematics. We examine the possible social implications and then focus on the changing mathematics classroom, focusing on the actual mathematics curriculum, learning design and assessment, the role of collaborative activities and social media, educational videos, and the role of family and parents in future. There are indicators from the literature that educators may not return to the traditional way of teaching entirely, especially in secondary and higher education. We conclude with describing some possible new research areas that have developed through emergency remote teaching, including online education for younger learners, local learning ecosystems, the role of family and parents, instructional design, and the mathematics content of curricula.

The COVID-19 pandemic led to the lockdown of schools in many countries, forcing teachers and students to carry out educational activities remotely. In the case of mathematics, developing remote instruction based on both synchronous and asynchronous technological solutions has proven to be an extremely complex challenge. Specifically, this was the case in topics such as word problem solving, as this domain requires intensive supervision and feedback from the teacher. In this piece of research, we present an evaluation of how technology is employed in the teaching of mathematics, with particular relevance to learning during the pandemic. For that purpose, we conducted a systematic review, revealing the almost complete absence of experiments in which the use of technology is not mediated by the teacher. These results reflect a pessimistic vision within the field of mathematics education about the possibilities of learning when the student uses technology autonomously. Bringing good outcomes out of a bad situation, the pandemic crisis may represent a turning point from which to start directing the research gaze towards technological environments such as those mediated by artificial intelligence. As an example, we provide a study illustrating to what extent intelligent tutoring systems can be cost-effective compared to one-to-one human tutoring and mathematic learning-oriented solutions for intensive supervision in the teaching of word problem solving, especially appropriate for remote settings. Despite the potential of these technologies, the experience also showed that student socioeconomic level was a determining factor in the participation rate with an intelligent tutoring system, regardless of whether or not the administration guaranteed students' access to technological resources during the COVID-19 situation.

Educators sometimes effect changes in education through the implementation of new ideas, and sometimes extraordinary circumstances force them to change their educational approaches, as during the COVID-19 crisis. Although we live in a digital age, the limited use of technology in education, particularly prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, and teachers' insufficient experience with online or hybrid learning and teaching approaches resulted in several countries being unprepared for education during the pandemic. The flipped classroom (FC) is an innovative pedagogy with the potential to engage students in mathematics education using hybrid education combined with online and face-to-face learning, which is especially important during a pandemic. However, despite the high expectations surrounding this innovative approach, to date, no systematic literature review has discussed the opportunities and pitfalls of FCs in mathematics education regarding pandemic-related issues. In the present systematic review, we aim to bridge this gap and highlight the importance of flipping mathematics instruction during the pandemic and beyond. The results, which are based on textual analysis of 97 eligible articles, demonstrate that FC is a promising pedagogy that has numerous benefits for mathematics teaching and learning, although it is not a panacea for pandemic-related issues, as it also has several significant pitfalls. Overall, if the mechanism of mathematics education is to be crisis-ready, we should learn from experiences during the pandemic. In this regard, the current review contributes to research in mathematics education with the aim of gaining insight into successful implementations of FC pedagogy, not only during the pandemic but also beyond the crisis era of a pandemic.

Supplementary information: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s11858-022-01388-w.

The COVID-19 pandemic continues to present severe challenges to the education sector more than 2 years after the first case was detected. We explore the strategies South African teachers used to support continued mathematics learning at home during the COVID-19 pandemic across different stages of the response to it and across different contexts. We explore these strategies, first, in relation to the initial shift to emergency remote teaching when learners needed to be reached in their homes under severe lockdown regulations, then through the gradual reopening of schools later as regulations were relaxed. Activity theory informs our perspective on the way in which teachers worked to mediate learning across school and home activity systems. Twenty-five Grade 4-7 mathematics teachers from the Eastern Cape responded to two questionnaires given at the start of the COVID-19 lockdown period and during the phased return to school. Questions focused on the strategies used to support mathematics learning. The results show that strategies focused on engaging caregivers through various technologies and getting resources into the home. WhatsApp, a free internet-based messaging service, was the most frequently used communication app across all types of schools for both messaging parents and sending instructional material and support in the form of videos, pictures and text messages. Department issued workbooks and teacher designed work packs were key resources sent to homes. Differences are evident in the range of use of different technologies across wealthier and poorer schools. Primary teachers' voices inform possible ways forward for the purpose of managing young student mathematical learning gaps and meeting ongoing learning needs.

Research literature on the role of mathematics teachers during the COVID-19 crisis shows that teacher preparation for emergency situations is required. In reporting on this exploratory study, we present and analyse lesson plans created by seven future teachers for mathematics classes during the pandemic. Data were collected between April and October 2021 from 16 four-hour class sessions in a Mathematics Degree Program at a public university in Medellín, Colombia. The notion of Humans-with-Media and the Learning by Expanding theory were used as frameworks to understand what roles prospective mathematics teacher (PMTs) assign to technologies for teaching in pandemic conditions. The PMTs' uses of technology for teaching mathematics during a pandemic were categorized. The results show that technology was used to reorganize and reproduce mathematics teaching practices. This report addresses the impact of technology on the activity system, and we conclude with a discussion of opportunities and limitations of students' conceptions about teaching and technology during a pandemic.

The global COVID-19 pandemic has provided an opportunity to re-examine the possibility of organising virtual conferences in mathematics education, in which the social needs of participants can also be addressed. In this study we investigated the future impact that this change may have on the format and nature of mathematics education conferences. The study was conducted in two phases. We used an online questionnaire in which we asked participants to give us some input on the issues above. In the second phase of the project, focus group interviews were conducted with international mathematics education researchers. This study is an exploratory study, in which the sample was not developed in a way that could generate comparisons. The aim of the study was to raise possibilities about what may be the future of mathematics education conferences. Findings indicate that although academics are pro-actively thinking about alternative conference formats, the proven value of face-to-face conferences is still very real, showing that it is too early for us to have a clear vision of the future format of academic conferences.