Journal of Research in Mathematics Education

Professional Collaboration among Elementary School Teachers in Lesson Study

2024-04-02T10:08:37+02:00

Professional teacher collaboration, a fundamental characteristic of lesson study, has been pointed out as a principle of teacher personal and professional growth. This article aims to describe and analyze the development of professional collaboration in a lesson study, highlighting the main stages of this process. The investigation involved six elementary school teachers of Brazilian public schools, in planning, observing, and reflecting on a lesson on the curriculum topic of length measure at grade 4. The participants worked collaboratively planning a lesson about this topic. The methodology is qualitative, with data collected by records and field notes of sessions, conversations, and interviews. The analyses pointed out three remarkable stages of the development of professional collaboration, which constituted the categories of analysis: recognition of collaboration, development of collaboration, and valuing collaboration. The results show that the professional collaboration that developed during the lesson study was facilitated by the dynamics of the different steps of this process and, especially, by the relationship between participants and teacher educators. Collaboration emerged from the activities of planning, teaching, observing, and reflecting on the lesson, and was valued given the encouragement and strengthening of the group insofar as teachers felt confident, encouraged, and welcomed in the group.

Mathematical Thinking of Fifth-Grade Students when Inventing and Solving Problems

2024-04-12T10:51:59+02:00

The article investigates the mathematical thinking manifested by fifth-grade students when they invent and solve mathematical problems. The research problem refers to the need for more knowledge of students' mathematical thinking and how it is usually undervalued when it is done through standardized tests. Knowing students' mathematical thinking helps to build study processes that recognize them. The research was conducted over one year; it is qualitative and naturalistic; invention and problem-solving were used to determine students' mathematical thinking and solution strategies. The records were taken from the written production of forty-fifth graders when they invented problems to be proposed and solved by their classmates. The results report that children invent problems of an arithmetic nature, prefer operations between numbers over relations between them, and manifest difficulties in proposing problems when given information.

The Integration of Digital Technology in Task-Design on Eye-Tracking Studies in Geometry

2024-06-14T17:54:27+02:00

Eye-tracking (ET) method provides a promising channel for educational researchers to connect learning outcomes to cognitive processes. The main principle of ET is that our gaze and our focus of attention are connected. Due to the advent of digital technologies, eye tracking studies are increasingly growing in different fields and in mathematics education. We assume that the provided task is one of the ways to analyse deeply cognitive processes, and we wonder how ET studies are dealing with the integration of digital technology in task-design in geometry. Starting from Strohmaier et al. (2020) we found three studies, one focused on geometric proofs and two based on construction of geometric objects. We highlight the contributions of integrating digital technology in learning and instruction, and in research in geometry.

Different Languages, Different Mathematics Learning

2024-05-15T17:34:44+02:00

Culture shapes pupils’ mathematical learning, their performances and life trajectories of participation (César, 2013a, 2013b). It also contributes to the senses they attribute to mathematical learning (Bakhtin, 1929/1981). Using collaborative work and inter-empowerment mechanisms facilitates knowledge appropriation (César, 2009). This is particularly important for pupils participating in minority cultures, socially undervalued and whose L1 is not the instruction language. Bi-univocal culture mediation (César, 2017b) is important regarding empowerment. We used an instrument to evaluate pupils’ abilities and competencies (IACC), conceived by the Name of the Project team (Machado, 2014), and other mathematical tasks. The goal we address is to trace the differences between their approaches to problems, mathematical reasoning and solving strategies used by pupils whose L1 is ideographic (Creole, Cape Verde) or phonetic (Portuguese). We developed an intrinsic case study (Stake, 1995). The main participants are the pupils from almost 600 classes (all over Portugal and Cape Verde) who participated in the Name of the Project. The analysis of some examples illustrates that L1 shapes pupils’ approaches to problems, mathematical reasoning and solving strategies. This evidence plays an important role in their access to school achievement and in teachers’ understanding about how they can promote pupils’ mathematical learning.