1,721,205 research outputs found
Editorial
No full textn many ways 2007 has been a year of change for IJRME and its team. [... ...] Is this issue then different to the previous ones? Not only does it reflect that we are receiving more submissions from outside the UK and even Europe than ever before, but also, and perhaps more importantly, we are able to accept contributions that explore more sophisticated and detailed methodological issues. As the journal continues to develop, we will seek to achieve a balance between publishing such highly specialized and sometimes technical papers and papers of more general methodological interest. As always, we welcome discussion about the development of educational research approaches and methods, and this issue, more than any before, shows evidence of this
Transformation and regulation in educational research
No full textI have been thinking a lot about educational research lately. That is what happens when you are drawing together an issue of a journal on research and method in education! For me, though, this has coincided with events in my everyday academic life that have prompted critical moments of reflection, and these have been affirming and discomforting. I will return to these critical moments at the end of the editorial as they link with thoughts about where the journal might develop in a new period of editorship. First, I will introduce the papers and reflect on their significance
Meta-resources:Supporting the Design of Mathematics Teaching and Learning
No full textIn this chapter, we introduce the notion of meta-resource, defined as a material resource which has been explicitly designed for supporting mathematics teachers’ planning of teaching and learning activities. Our perspective on meta-resources is underpinned by the documentational approach to didactics. We claim that meta-resources are an important element in teachers’ design landscape, and that digital meta-resources contribute to the transformation of this landscape. Our aim in this chapter is to identify, searching the literature, categories of meta-resources, and the affordances and constraints brought by digital meta-resources. We observe that meta-resources can be classified according to their aim, in terms of aspect of teacher design they should support. We identified six different aims: Choosing resources; Designing learning progressions; Designing lesson plans individually; Task design; Assessment design; Designing collectively in the context of professional development. We present a review of the literature, organized according to these six aims. We discuss the developments linked with digital meta-resources. These digital meta-resources can facilitate teachers’ choice of resources and can offer new possibilities for teachers’ individual and collective planning of teaching and learning activities. At the same time, digital MRs impose constraints on teachers’ planning activities, and offer new possibilities of control to the educational authorities. We explore the conceptualization of meta-resources, beyond our initial definition as material resources designed to support teachers’ lesson planning activity. We call for more research about meta-resources, as an important element for teachers’ documentation work and professional development.</p
Mathematics textbooks and curriculum resources as instruments for change
Full text linkIn this survey paper we aim to provide an overview of research on mathematics textbooks and, more broadly, curriculum resources as instruments for change related to mathematical content, instructional goals and practices, and student learning of mathematics. In particular, we elaborate on the following themes: (1) The role of curriculum resources as instruments for change from a theoretical perspective; (2) The design of curriculum resources to mediate the implementation of reform ideas and innovative practice; (3) Teachers’ influence on the implementation of change through curriculum resources; (4) Students’ influence on the implementation of change through curriculum resources; and (5) Evidence of curriculum resources yielding changes in student-related factors or variables. We claim that, whilst textbooks and curriculum resources are influential, they alone cannot change teachers’ teaching nor students’ learning practices in times of curricular change. Moreover, more knowledge is needed about features of curriculum resources that support the implementation of change. We contend that curriculum innovations are likely to be successful, if teachers and students are supported to co- and re-design the relevant curriculum trajectories and materials in line with the reform efforts and their own individual needs.</p
Research on mathematics teachers as partners in task design
Full text linkMathematical tasks and tools, including tasks in the form of digital tools, are key resources in mathematics teaching and in mathematics teacher education. Even so, the ‘design’ of mathematical tasks is perceived in different ways: sometimes seen as something distinct from the teaching and learning process, and sometimes as integral to it. Whilst task design has often been carried out by designers or mathematicians (perhaps as textbook authors), the focus for this review article is research that has involved mathematics teachers as partners in the design of tasks. The article provides a state-of-the-art review of relevant literature and is presented under three headings that consider, in turn, the role of mathematical ‘tasks’; the nature of ‘task design’; and the notion of ‘partnerships for task design’ in mathematics education. Subsequently, we present current research that is providing new insights into tasks, task design, and task design partnership. Based on this, we argue that ‘task design’ needs to pay particular attention to what to design, which tools are necessary or beneficial, and under what conditions; digital tools and task resources offer particular affordances that traditional resources cannot provide; and not only do teachers benefit from being partners in task design (in terms of their professional learning) but without their involvement some aspects of task design would most likely be neglected
Students’ attitudes towards mathematics across lower secondary schools in Shanghai
No full textWhilst students in Shanghai were top-ranked internationally in the 2009 and 2012 PISA (Programme for International Student Assessment) studies, much less is known about Shanghai students’ attitudes towards mathematics and how this varies across the 11–15 age range. This chapter reports on a study of attitudes towards mathematics of Shanghai students in lower secondary schools, in terms of their emotional disposition towards mathematics and their perceived competence in mathematics. Data were obtained from 4,236 students across grades 6 to 9 in eleven schools across four school districts in SH. Our study found that across the grades an increasing proportion of Shanghai students reported a positive disposition towards mathematics, with only slight drop in Grade 8. We also found that the combinations “I like it although I can’t do it” and “I can do it but I dislike it” were not rare. Interestingly, in seven out of the eleven schools surveyed, more than half of the students who disliked mathematics conveyed that they could do it. Noticeably, the seven schools were all top or above-average achieving schools (according to school district and city-level examinations). Our study also found that more boys expressed a positive emotional disposition than girls. Nevertheless, there was no difference between boys’ and girls’ perceived competence in mathematics
Task design in a school-based professional development programme
Full text linkIn this paper we report on two principles of task design arising from our study of a school-based mathematics teachers’ professional development programme in Shanghai, China. The two principals are: 1) developing a ‘hypothetical learning structure’ for the topic, and 2) developing tasks within a web-like structure of knowledge connections. This paper provides an example of each and discusses implications of our work for the teachers, the professional developer/expert teacher, and the researchers in the team
- …
