Prospective mathematics teachers’ understanding of the base concept*

The purpose of this study is to analyze what kind of conceptions prospective mathematics teachers¹1. prospective mathematics teachers (hereafter referred to as PMTs)View all notes(PMTs) have about the base concept²2. base concept (hereafter referred to as BC)View all notes(BC). One-hundred and thirty-nine PMTs participated in the study. In this qualitative research, data were obtained through open-ended questions, the semi-structured interviews and pictures of geometric figures drawn by PMTs. As a result, it was determined that PMTs dealt with the BC in a broad range of seven different images. It was also determined that the base perception of PMTs was limited mostly to their usage in daily life and in this context, they have position-dependent and word-dependent images. It was also determined that PMTs named the base to explain the BC or paid attention to the naming of three-dimensional geometric figures through the statement: ‘objects are named according to their bases’. At the same time, it was also determined that PMTs had more than one concept images³3. concept images (hereafter referred to as CIs)View all noteswhich were contradicting with each other. According to these findings, potential explanations and advices were given.     

q-Generalizations of Mortenson’s identities and further identities

By means of partial fraction decomposition, we give simple proofs of Mortenson’s identities first. Then, inspired by them, we derive their q-generalizations and explore further identities of similar type.     

Prospective elementary teachers’ claiming in responses to false generalizations

When faced with a false generalization and a counterexample, what types of claims do prospective K-8 teachers make, and what factors influence the type and prudence of their claims relative to the data, observations, and arguments reported? This article addresses that question. Responses to refutation tasks and cognitive interviews were used to explore claiming. It was found that prospective K-8 teachers’ claiming can be influenced by knowledge of argumentation; knowledge and use of the mathematical practice of exception barring; perceptions of the task; use of natural language; knowledge of, use of, and skill with the mathematics register; and abilities to technically handle data or conceptual insights. A distinction between technical handlings for developing claims and technical handlings for supporting claims was made. It was found that prudent claims can arise from arguer-developed representations that afford conceptual insights, even when searching for support for a different claim.     

Prospective mathematics teachers’ use of linguistic signifiers in the context of angles formed by two lines cut by a transversal

Embracing a multisemiotic approach, this case study addresses the ways in which prospective middle school mathematics teachers use linguistic signifiers idiosyncratic to the Turkish language to construe mathematical meaning of angles formed by two lines cut by a transversal. Also, students’ mathematical referents to explain angle relationships were characterized. Six students (3 female, 3 male) volunteered to participate in an individual task-based interview. The results indicated that students used morphological units of meaning when they explained the mathematical concepts. Also, most students used the parallelism of the two lines cut by a transversal as a qualifier to be able to talk about the angle pairs on a transversal. They most often recited properties, such as the U property, to explain the angle relationships. Implications for future research are provided.     

Ways of promoting the sustainability of mathematics teachers’ professional development

This paper deals with the sustainable effectiveness of professional development programmes. Based on a review of literature and research findings, the following questions are raised: What is regarded as an effective way of promoting mathematics teachers’ sustainable professional development? Which levels of impacts are aimed at? What are the factors promoting the effectiveness of professional development programmes? Regarding these questions, the article links theoretical considerations with research findings from a case study. A secondary mathematics teacher, taking part in a teacher professional development programme in 2002, was revisited in 2005 and 2010 to gather data regarding the sustainable impact of the programme. The case study’s results provide information about the teacher’s professional growth and lead to a discussion of implications for mathematics teachers’ professional development and teacher education in general.     

Analogues of Ramanujan’s partition identities

Ramanujan discovered that $$\sum_{n=0}^\infty p(5n+4)q^n=5 \prod_{j=1}^\infty \frac{(1-q^{5j})^5}{(1-q^j)^6}, $$ where p(n) is the number of partitions of n. Recently, H.-C. Chan and S. Cooper, and H.H. Chan and P.C. Toh established several analogues of Ramanujan’s partition identities by employing the theory of modular functions. Very recently, N.D. Baruah and K.K. Ojah studied the partition function $p_{[c^{l}d^{m}]}(n)$ which is defined by $$\sum_{n=0}^\infty p_{[c^ld^m]}(n)q^n= \frac{1}{\prod_{j=1}^\infty (1-q^{cj})^{l}(1-q^{dj})^m}. $$ They discovered some analogues of Ramanujan’s partition identities and deduced several interesting partition congruences. In this paper, we provide a uniform method to prove some of their results by utilizing an addition formula. In the process, we also establish some new analogues of Ramanujan’s partition identities and congruences for $p_{[c^{l}d^{m}]}(n)$ .     

Dispersive deformations of the Hamiltonian structure of Euler’s equations

Euler’s equations for a two-dimensional fluid can be written in the Hamiltonian form, where the Poisson bracket is the Lie–Poisson bracket associated with the Lie algebra of divergence-free vector fields. For the two-dimensional hydrodynamics of ideal fluids, we propose a derivation of the Poisson brackets using a reduction from the bracket associated with the full algebra of vector fields. Taking the results of some recent studies of the deformations of Lie–Poisson brackets of vector fields into account, we investigate the dispersive deformations of the Poisson brackets of Euler’s equation: we show that they are trivial up to the second order.     

A motivated proof of Gordon’s identities

We generalize the ??motivated proof?? of the Rogers?CRamanujan identities given by Andrews and Baxter to provide an analogous ??motivated proof?? of Gordon??s generalization of the Rogers?CRamanujan identities. Our main purpose is to provide insight into certain vertex-algebraic structure being developed.     

Elementary teachers’ beliefs on the role of struggle in the mathematics classroom

Reform-oriented approaches to mathematics instruction view struggle as critical to learning; however, research suggests many teachers resist providing opportunities for students to struggle. Ninety-three early-years Australian elementary teachers completed a questionnaire about their understanding of the role of struggle in the mathematics classroom. Thematic analysis of data revealed that most teachers (75 %) held positive beliefs about struggle, with four overlapping themes emerging: building resilience, central to learning mathematics, developing problem solving skills and facilitating peer-to-peer learning. Many of the remaining teachers (16 %) held what constituted conditionally positive beliefs about struggle, emphasising that the level of challenge provided needed to be suitable for a given student and adequately scaffolded. The overwhelmingly positive characterisation of student struggle was surprising given prior research but consistent with our contention that an emphasis on growth mindsets in educational contexts over the last decade has seen a shift in teachers’ willingness to embrace struggle.     

Prospective and current secondary mathematics teachers’ criteria for evaluating mathematical cognitive technologies

As technology becomes more ubiquitous in the mathematics classroom, teachers are being asked to incorporate it into their lessons more than ever before. The amount of resources available online is staggering and teachers need to be able to analyse and identify resources that would be most appropriate and effective with their students. This study examines the criteria prospective and current secondary mathematics teachers use and value most when evaluating mathematical cognitive technologies (MCTs). Results indicate all groups of participants developed criteria focused on how well an MCT represents the mathematics, student interaction and engagement with the MCT, and whether the MCT was user-friendly. However, none of their criteria focused on how well an MCT would reflect students’ solution strategies or illuminate their thinking. In addition, there were some differences between the criteria created by participants with and without teaching experience, specifically the types of supports available in an MCT. Implications for mathematics teacher educators are discussed.     

The opaque nature of generic examples: The structure of student teachers’ arguments in multiplicative reasoning

The study aims to explore the structural aspects of generic examples, to get better insight into what makes them potentially opaque for learners. We have analyzed 27 written arguments, for which student teachers (grades 1–10) were asked to use a generic example to prove a given statement in multiplication. Using Toulmin’s framework, we developed five categories of arguments based on their structure: examples, empirical arguments, leap arguments, embedded arguments, and other arguments. Also, we conclude that none of the student teachers provided arguments that we recognize as complete generic examples. The results bring us to a discussion about features of generic examples making them difficult to come to grips with, having implications for how teacher educators can support student teachers’ learning to prove. From this, we propose a definition of generic examples that attends to the criteria suggested in previous research, yet, emphasizing their structural nature.     

On Somos’s theta-function identities of level 14

M. Somos discovered around 6200 theta-function identities of different levels using the computer and offered no proof for them. The purpose of this paper is to prove twenty four of his identities of level 14.     

On the content-dependence of prospective teachers’ knowledge: a case of exemplifying definitions

In this article, we demonstrate that prospective teachers’ content knowledge related to defining mathematical concepts is dependent on content area. We use the example of generation (a research tool we developed in a previous study) to investigate prospective teachers’ knowledge. We asked prospective secondary mathematics teachers to provide multiple examples of definitions of concepts from different areas of mathematics. We examined teacher-generated examples of concept definition and analysed individual and collective example spaces, focusing on their correctness and richness. We demonstrate differences in prospective teachers’ knowledge associated with defining mathematical concepts in geometry, algebra and calculus.     

Secondary-school teachers’ noticing of aspects of mathematics teaching talk in the context of one-day workshops

In a research project with one-day teacher education workshops for secondary-school mathematics teachers, our study explores the potential of tool-supported discussions in helping them to notice important and critical aspects of mathematics teaching talk. Mathematical practices of naming and explaining in teaching talk, students’ content learning challenges, and noticing processes of identifying, interpreting and deciding are the components of our framework and the tools that guided the design and implementation of three workshops on linear equations, fractions and plane isometries. The data was collected during the discussions with the seven teachers and the teacher educator throughout these workshops. The coding of the discussions allowed us to see discourse moves that reveal the teachers’ noticing of: (i) challenges in the identification of mathematical naming, (ii) mathematical explaining that voices the students’ learning, (iii) classroom practice in relation to mathematical naming and explaining.     

Proofs of some conjectures on the reciprocals of the Ramanujan–Gordon identities

The Ramanujan Journal - Recently, Lin and Wang introduced two special partition functions $$RG_1(n)$$ and $$RG_2(n)$$ , the generating functions of which are the reciprocals of two identities due...     

A revised theorization of the relationship between teachers’ conceptions of mathematics and its teaching

We assembled the ideas about mathematics and about its teaching which were expressed by mathematicians and mathematics educators into two pairs of ‘official’ (collective) conceptions: mathematics is either static or dynamic, and mathematics teaching is either closed or open. These polar conceptions produce a 4-pair relationship between the conceptions of mathematics and its teaching. The adherence to official conceptions was tapped by a questionnaire encompassing 176 Israeli high school mathematics teachers, aimed at examining the relationship between their conceptions of mathematics and its teaching. The majority of these teachers either hold a single conception in one of the domains or do not adhere to any conception, and a quarter of them hold either the static-closed or dynamic-open pairs of conceptions that prevail among teachers in other countries. Consequently, we define a conception of an entity as a comprehensive and homogenous set of ideas about a particular characteristic or feature of that entity. Reality is that teachers practice their profession without adhering to any official conception, and perhaps are (/to be?/) praised for their reluctance to blindly adopt the clear-cut rigid official conceptions of mathematics and its teaching while maintaining their individual and independent blends of ideas.     

A simple proof of the Rogers–Selberg identities

A short and simple proof of the Rogers–Selberg identities is obtained from the work of Andrew Sills on identities of the Rogers–Ramanujan type.     

Partition identities arising from Somos’s theta function identities

In this paper, we establish certain partition identities for theta function identities of level 14 discovered by M. Somos.     

Multifractal structure of the product measure of two independent general subordinators’ occupation measures

In this paper, we mainly investigate the multifractal spectrum of the random measure derived from two independent general subordinators. This work was supported by National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 10871200)