中学数学中的研究性学习

数学学科中开展研究性学习的问题已经提 出多年,对于其意义数学教育界已经基本上取 得了共识.当前迫切需要解决的问题,是在数学 学科中如何开展研究性学习,即如何用研究性 学习方式来学习数学.解决这个问题的关键,是 要明确数学学科中开展研究性学习的方式、类 型,及每一种类型的具体操作.在前一阶段实践 的基础上,对于这个问题已经取得了不少经验, 也摸索了一些规律.根据学习时间、空间和内 容,学生自主的程度的不同,数学学科中开展研 究性学习通常有以下几种形式: 一、数学课堂中的研究性学习 课堂是数学学习的主要场所,数学学习…     

在数学学科教学中恰当选定内容进行研究性学习

研究性学习 ,是指在教师指导下学生自主发现问题、探究问题、获得结论的学习活动 ,研究性学习具有开放性、自主性、探究性和实践性的特点 .相对于被动的接受式学习而言 ,研究性学习是一种主动的探索式学习方式 ,应该渗透于学生的所有学习活动之中 .华东师大霍益萍教授认为 ,学科教学与研究性学习是相互促进的 .在数学学科教学中恰当选定内容进行研究性学习 ,主要是培养学生的数学创新精神和创造能力 .开展研究性学习的首要问题是学习内容的选择 ,内容选得是否恰当 ,将直接影响研究性学习的实施 ,影响数学创新精神和创造能力的培养 ,可从以下…     

高中数学研究性学习的实践和认识

研究性学习是指学生在教师指导下,以类似科学研究的方法,从学习生活和社会生活中选择并确定专题,积极主动地获取知识、应用知识、解决问题的学习活动.数学教学大纲对研究性学习也提出了具体的教学目标.这就要求我们对研究性学习的教学不同于传授知识的教学.根据高中新课程计划(试验修改稿)数学大纲要求,高中数学中将有1/6左右的教学时间用于开展研究性学习,这对教师的教学能力提出了更高的要求.本文从高中数学教学的角度,结合个人开展研究性学习的一些实践,谈谈对高中数学教学中研究性学习的认识.一、研究性学习教学案例分析、介绍(1)提出问…     

数学研究性学习及其特点

编者按 近年来,高考试题突出了能力立意,以研究性学习为背景的问题也逐步引入高考试题.这不但为数学教学提出了新的要求,也为高考复习提出了新的课题.我们通过对一些高考试题剖析,为在数学教学中开展研究性学习提供一些例析.为大家开展数学研究性学习提供一些线索和资料.本期先从理论上探究数学研究性学习及其特点,作为开篇.     

记一次习题课中的研究性学习

研究性学习作为一种学习方式渗透于学生学习的所有学科、所有学习活动之中.而学生的学习,绝大多数在课堂内完成.因此,有必要将研究性学习的思想观念引入课堂.如何突出学生在学习活动中的主体地位,如何在课堂内开展研究性学习,本人在教学中做过多次尝试.下面列举的是本人上的一堂高一数学习题课.     

深入挖掘教材开展实验研究——数学研究性学习案例e究竟自然在哪里

课堂是开展数学研究性学习的主要阵地,"教学内容问题化,教学过程探索化"是研究性学习在课堂教学中的两个显著特征.新教材中好题甚多,并留下许多开展数学探究活动的"引子",只要深入挖掘,通过适当加工、引申与改造便可以赋予新的含意,编制成适合学生能力特点的问题供师生共同探究,这样不仅能激发学生的学习兴趣,培养学生的思维能力,而且对激发学生的创新意识,提高实践能力会起到事半功倍的作用,这也是开展课堂研究性学习的一种行之有效的方法.     

大学数学研究性教学的实质及探索

大学数学研究性教学是关于数学思维的活动,以问题解决为中心的数学化的活动.树立数学模式观,构建开放的教学模式,注重学生的差异,把大学数学研究性教学建设为一流教学方法,也有助于促进数学教师专业化发展能力的提高,促进学生研究性学习.     

例谈TI-92Plus图形计算器在研究性学习中的应用

图形计算器扩展了普通计算器的功能 ,具有强大的图形功能、可视化功能和计算机代数系统功能 .图形计算器在数学问题与数学对象的多重表示 ,及以此为手段的数学实验探索活动方面具有较大的优势 .图形计算器不仅影响了老师的“教”也改变了我们的“学” .ＴＩ 图形计算器突出的优点还在于它给我们提供了自我研究 ,自我学习的优良条件 ,激发了我们主动开展研究性学习的积极性 .下面是我们在研究性学习中使用ＴＩ 92Ｐｌｕｓ图形计算器的若干实例 .1　求解非常规方程在竞赛数学、研究性学习或建模过程中 ,常会遇到一些非常规方程 ,如高次方程或…     

开展研究性学习 提升数学建模素养——以三角恒等变换应用问题为例

新的数学课程标准颁布四五年了,六个核心素养已经被广大数学教师所熟知.课标与教材里都安排了数学探究与数学建模课时,但是如何落实数学探究与数学建模,进而提升数学建模等素养,是许多教师存在的问题.本文就以“三角恒等变形应用问题”为例,谈了笔者对这个问题的思考:要提高对研究性学习的认识,持之以恒地开展研究性活动,既要关注高考培养能力,更要着眼长远提升素养.     

高等数学教学渗透研究性学习的研究与实践

近年来,研究性学习逐步成为高等教育教学改革的一个热点.在高等数学教学中实施研究性学习,可以有效改变学生多年来养成的应试性学习习惯,有利于培养学生的创新精神,提高学生的数学素养.做好研究性学习与传统教学的融合与协调,是高等数学教学中开展研究性学习的重要环节之一.我们在多年教学实践的基础上,形成了在传统教学模式中渗入研究性学习的课程教学理念,提出了研究性学习与传统教学融合与协调的教学新模式,并积极探索开展研究性学习的有效途径.教学实践表明,我们的做法既能发挥传统课堂教学的高效率,有助于改变学生的学习方式,提高其自主学习能力和创新能力     

Science Conference Presenters’ Images of Inquiry

Inquiry‐focused professional development and conceptions of inquiry held by eight professional development leaders were investigated within the context of a state science teacher conference. The prominent session format involved session leaders modeling classroom experiences. In all sessions, classroom inquiry was portrayed as a teacher‐guided activity with the primary goal being to increase motivation for engaging students in classroom inquiry. The leaders’ conceptualized inquiry primarily as a teaching approach with various goals, characteristics, and potential barriers. The findings of this study provide evidence of how inquiry, a prominent feature of science education reform, was portrayed in sessions at a conference sponsored by a state affiliate of the National Science Teachers Association and thought about by persons who led these sessions. The findings have implications for teacher learning from conference‐based professional development and its potential influence on science teacher thinking and practice.     

Inquiry as an entry point to equity in the classroom

ABSTRACT

Although many policy documents include equity as part of mathematics education standards and principles, researchers continue to explore means by which equity might be supported in classrooms and at the institutional level. Teaching practices that include opportunities for students to engage in active learning have been proposed to address equity. In this paper, through aligning some characteristics of inquiry put forth by Cook, Murphy and Fukawa-Connelly with Gutiérrez's dimensions of equity, we theoretically explore the ways in which active learning teaching practices that focus on inquiry could support equity in the classroom.     

Science Talk: Preservice Teachers Facilitating Science Learning in Diverse Afterschool Environments

The purpose of this study was to assess the impact a community‐based service learning program might have on preservice teachers' science instruction during student teaching. Designed to promote science inquiry, preservice teachers learned how to offer students more opportunities to develop their own ways of thinking through utilization of an afterschool science program that provided them extended opportunities to practice their science teaching skills. Three preservice teachers were followed to examine and evaluate the transfer of this experience to their student teaching classroom. Investigation methods included field observations and semi‐structured, individual interviews. Findings indicate that preservice teachers expanded their ideas of science inquiry instruction to include multiple modes of formative assessment, while also struggling with the desire to give students the correct answer. While the participants' experiences are few in number, the potential of afterschool teaching experience serving as an effective learning experience in preservice teacher preparation is significant. With the constraints of high‐stakes testing, community‐based service learning teaching opportunities for elementary and middle‐school preservice teachers can support both the development and refinement of inquiry instruction skills.     

Investigating Essential Characteristics of Scientific Practices in Elementary Science Learning Environments: The Practices of Science Observation Protocol (P‐SOP)

Within the field of science education, there remains little agreement as to the definition and characteristics of classroom inquiry. The emerging emphasis on scientific practices in science education reform discourse is underpinned by a need to better articulate the constituent elements of inquiry‐based science. While a small number of observation‐based instruments have been developed to characterize science learning environments, few are explicitly aligned with theoretical constructs articulated by the National Research Council and/or have been substantially field‐tested. We employ a newly developed instrument, the Practices of Science Observation Protocol (P‐SOP), to investigate essential features of inquiry and scientific practices in which early learners engage in elementary classrooms. This research is part of a multiyear professional development program designed to support elementary teachers (K‐5) in a large, urban school district to learn to better engage students in scientific practices. Project teachers video‐recorded enacted science lessons (n = 124) which were used as data. Findings illustrate both essential features of inquiry and scientific practices observed in elementary classrooms, as well as establish the P‐SOP as a valid and reliable observation protocol. These findings have important implications for the design of elementary science learning environments and associated research and development efforts in the field.     

Mathematics teacher educators’/researchers’ collaboration with teachers as a context for professional learning

This paper describes our joint activity as mathematics teacher educators and academic researchers in collaborating with both experienced and novice teachers in two contexts: an emergent community of inquiry into mathematics teaching and its development; and a research methods course, offered as part of a mathematics education Master’s program, aspiring to initiate participating teachers into research practice through inquiry. Adopting an Activity Theory (AT) perspective, we analyse our activity, identifying its nature and transformations that frame our professional learning. The results indicate that our professional learning is the outcome of a continuous process of becoming aware of our own activity and its transformation in relation to that of the teachers.     

Inquiry Teaching and Learning: The Best Math Class Study

This research reports on prospective middle school teachers' perceptions of a “best mathematics class” during their involvement in an inquiry‐designed mathematics content course. Grounded in the prestigious Glenn Commission report ( U.S. Department of Education, 2000 ), the study examined the prospective teachers' perceptions of effective mathematics instruction both prior to and after completing the inquiry course. Pre‐essay analysis revealed that students could be grouped into one of two categories: the Watch‐Learn‐Practice view and the Self as Initiator view. Post‐essay analysis indicated that over two thirds of all students involved in the study changed their views of a best math class after the inquiry courses. The Watch‐Learn‐Practice group's changes focused on developing reasoning skills and learning how one “knows” in mathematics. The Self as Initiator group noted expanded roles for the students, particularly emphasizing the importance of going beyond basic requirements to think deeply about the why and how of mathematics and expanded views of the benefits of group learning.     

Teachers and didacticians: key stakeholders in the processes of developing mathematics teaching

This paper sets the scene for a special issue of ZDM—The International Journal on Mathematics Education—by tracing key elements of the fields of teacher and didactician/teacher-educator learning related to the development of opportunities for learners of mathematics in classrooms. It starts from the perspective that joint activity of these two groups (teachers and didacticians), in creation of classroom mathematics, leads to learning for both. We trace development through key areas of research, looking at forms of knowledge of teachers and didacticians in mathematics; ways in which teachers or didacticians in mathematics develop their professional knowledge and skill; and the use of theoretical perspectives relating to studying these areas of development. Reflective practice emerges as a principal goal for effective development and is linked to teachers’ and didacticians’ engagement with inquiry and research. While neither reflection nor inquiry are developmental panaceas, we see collaborative critical inquiry between teachers and didacticians emerging as a significant force for teaching development. We include a summary of the papers of the special issue which offer a state of the art perspective on developmental practice.     

Training Master's‐Level Graduate Students to Use Inquiry Instruction to Teach Middle‐Level and High‐School Science Concepts

Through the GK‐12 program of the National Science Foundation, graduate student fellows in a coastal marine and wetland studies program were trained to present targeted science concepts to middle‐ and high‐school classes through their own research‐based lessons. Initially, they were taught to follow the 5‐E learning cycle in lesson plan development, but a streamlined approach targeting the three attributes of science concepts—macroscopic, model, and symbolic—was found to be a better approach, while still incorporating key facets of the 5‐E model. Evaluation of the level of inquiry in the classrooms was determined using an inquiry scale from 0 to 4, differentiated by the relative number of actions that are student‐centered. The graduate fellows consistently delivered lessons at the targeted levels 2 or 3, guided inquiry. In order to assess student learning, the GK‐12 fellows were trained to develop single‐item pre‐ and post‐assessments designed to probe middle‐level and high‐school students' understanding of the macroscopic, model, and symbolic attributes of targeted science concepts. For the lessons based on the research of the fellows, about 80% of the students showed statistically and practically significant learning gains. The GK‐12 fellows positively impact the classroom and are effective science ambassadors.