An analysis of history of mathematics research literature in Turkey: the mathematics education perspective1

Research in history of mathematics gained momentum in the past two decades in Turkey. The present paper aims to describe the patterns in the history of mathematics research in Turkey and to analyse the research in Turkey using a mathematics education framework. The qualitative paradigm and a case study design are used in the study. The obtained data were analysed by using the document analysis technique with the help of a content analysis. The study group which is comprised of twenty-two postgraduate theses at master's or doctoral level were purposefully selected from the higher education council postgraduate theses database. Findings indicate a dearth of research in the area and that most of the theses are done in the area of mathematics education. Moreover, the focus, in general, was on attitudinal variables, and cognitive aspects seemed to be ignored.     

Neoliberal and nationalist discourses in Turkish elementary mathematics education

Within the last three decades, critical educators have highlighted that all components of education are under great pressure from neoliberal ideologies. These educators underline the close relation between neoliberal projects in education and inequality in educational opportunities and outcomes. Turkey is no exception to this trend. The view that education is simply another market commodity has become normalized in policy and public discourses, and business discourse that relies on only profit-making has a growing place in curriculum and newly defined education goals. Emphasizing that mathematics education is one of the main targets of this neoliberal attack, this paper focuses on how neoliberal and neo-conservative tendencies have affected mathematics education in Turkey. These effects are examined through revealing profit-driven business discourse and nationalist discourse in elementary mathematics education texts. Bourdieu’s cultural capital is instrumentalized to clarify neoliberal policies’ impacts on the reproduction of social and educational inequalities. The discourse analyses of elementary mathematics curriculum, textbooks, workbooks, and teacher’s guide books imply that elementary mathematics discourse (a) orients students to use their mathematical abilities and skills for the benefit of private corporations instead of public welfare and (b) fosters nationalism via ignoring ethnic minority and non-Muslim groups living in Turkey.     

Values in Japanese mathematics education: their historical development

Individual mathematics teachers may value different aspects of teaching and learning mathematics, but at the same time their value systems are under the influence of socially shared values. This paper describes such values in Japanese mathematics education from a historical and normative perspective. After the introduction of Western mathematics into the modern school system in the Meiji period (1868?C1912), the people of Japan struggled to adapt and absorb it onto the foundation of Japanese tradition. In the subsequent development of Japanese mathematics education, the integration of both practical and theoretical aspects have been issues, alongside changes in educational focus and in society at large, which are symbolically represented by the enrolment rates at all of elementary, secondary, and tertiary education levels. Mathematics education in Japan has also been subject to international influences, such as the reform movement and the modernization movement, at critical junctures in its development. Key concepts such as mathematical ideas, mathematical thinking, and mathematical activities are traces of such historical efforts by the Japanese mathematics education community, and represent their socially shared values.     

Trends of the history of mathematics education in Brazil

The text aims at characterizing and analyzing the production of the history of mathematics education in Brazil. The study takes the presentations from the last National Seminar of History of Mathematics as a starting point. Such event gathered researchers, in a more significant and comprising way, interested in historical studies of mathematics and its teaching. The characterization points at the existence of four different tendencies: a production that considers the studies about history of mathematics education as part of the research about history of mathematics; a trend of opinions that takes into account the pedagogical use of history in mathematics education and establishes conditions for the research in the history of mathematics education; studies that use oral history for mathematics teachers’ training courses; and, finally, another trend that treats the history of mathematics education as history, that means, a specificity of historical production, having the mathematics education as an object. It will be shown that the characterization of those trends reveals different ways of representing the past of mathematics education, as well as the relationships Brazilian researches keep with international studies about this subject.     

Socio-economic and cultural mediators of mathematics achievement and between-school equity in mathematics education at the global level

This paper aims at identifying and understanding how and to what extent socioeconomic and cultural factors mediate mathematics achievement and between-school equity in mathematics education among countries. First, under the assumption that equity and quality of education are independent constructs, the construct of equity-in-quality in mathematics education is developed. Second, the 18 countries that were identified in the previous work of the author Jurdak in (Toward equity in quality in mathematics education. Springer, New York, 2009) as being diverse in mathematics education will serve as study cases to illustrate, compare, and contrast the mediatory role of socio-economic and cultural factors in mathematics achievement and between-school equity in mathematics education. The results show that the differences in mathematics achievement and between-school equity in mathematics education at the country level are associated with, and can be accounted for in some cases, by socioeconomic and cultural factors.     

Examination of the 8th grade students' TIMSS mathematics success in terms of different variables1

The aim of this study is to determine how the TIMSS mathematics success of the 8th grade students differentiates according to the school type, gender, mathematics report mark, parents' education level, cognitive domains and cognitive domains by gender. Relational survey method was used in the study. Six-hundred fifty two 8th grade students studying in the same city in Turkey participated in this study. In this study, a 45 question test that was made up by choosing TIMSS 2011 mathematics questionnaire was used as a data collection tool. Quantitative data analysis methods were used in the data analysis, frequency, percentage, average, standard deviation, independent sample test, one-way analysis of variance and post-hoc tests were applied to data by using SPSS packaged software. At the end of the study, it was determined that the school type, mathematics school mark, parents' education level and cognitive domains influenced the students' TIMSS mathematics success but their gender was a neutral element. Moreover, it was seen that schools which are really successful in national exams are more successful in TIMSS exam; students whose mathematics school marks are 5 and whose parents graduated from university are more successful in TIMSS exams than others.     

The emergence of women on the international stage of mathematics education

In this article, I consider the history of the International Commission on Mathematical Instruction (ICMI) from its inception until the International Congress on Mathematical Education (ICME) held in 1969. In this period, mathematics education developed as a scientific discipline. My aim is to study the presence and the contribution of women (if any) in this development. ICMI was founded in 1908, but my history starts before then, at the end of the nineteenth century, when the process of internationalization of mathematics began, thanks to the first International Congress of Mathematicians. Already in those years, the need for internationalizing the debate on mathematics teaching was spreading throughout the mathematical community. I use as my main sources of information the didactics sections in the proceedings of the International Congresses of Mathematicians and the proceedings of the first ICME. The data collected are complemented with information from the editorial board of two journals that for different reasons are linked to ICMI: L’Enseignement Mathématique and Educational Studies in Mathematics. In particular, as a result of my analyses, I have identified four women who may be considered as pioneer women in mathematics education. Some biographical notes on their professional life are included in the paper.     

Policy and the standards debate: mapping changes in assessment in mathematics

ABSTRACT

The influences on governments for policy changes in schools range across many agencies, including the political party in power. When policies change, the sources of these influences are not always clear. The project whose work is presented in this special issue examines what these changes look like in terms of the differences in assessment tasks of school pupils’ mathematics, over time. In this article we attempt to develop a graph, which we argue will have general applicability internationally, that can help to reveal the sources and nature of those influences. We construct the graph in interaction with an examination of the most recent changes in two countries. We argue that our analysis is a necessary complement to the project’s findings in that it enables us to identify the fields of recontextualisation, their relative strengths in terms of influence and hence conjecture their impact on the mathematics curriculum.     

Teachers learning the registers of mathematics and mathematics education in another language: an exploratory study

Many mathematics teachers around the world teach in a language different from the one in which they studied or completed their teacher education. Often these teachers must learn both the registers of mathematics and of mathematics education to teach in the additional language. This paper examines the factors that help teachers to learn these registers in Māori, the Indigenous language of New Zealand. Many of these teachers are second-language learners of the Māori language and attended English-medium schools and teacher-education programmes. After a brief discussion about the key role of language in teaching mathematics, this paper examines data from teachers at two Māori-immersion schools and a professional development facilitator. The analysis provides initial understanding of the factors that support or hinder their learning of the mathematics registers. Finally, a research agenda is suggested for further investigation of this issue.     

Mathematics education in Turkey: at the crossroads of cultural, political and economic currents

In this opening introductory article to the issue of ZDM focused on mathematics education in Turkey, a short survey of the deep historical and cultural foundations of modern day Turkey is offered. This is followed by an outline of the development of researchers, as well as doctoral programs in mathematics education at universities in Turkey. The article also summarizes recently completed influential dissertations in Turkey and explains the aims and scope of this particular issue in relation to its conception and development.     

Using Primary Source Projects to teach undergraduate mathematics content: analysis of instructor implementation and perceptions

ABSTRACT

This study investigates changes in instructor teaching tendencies, instructor’s perception of impact on student learning and dispositions, and methods of implementation of Primary Source Projects (PSPs). PSPs are curricular modules designed to teach core mathematical topics from primary historical sources rather than from standard textbooks. In essence, they are a form of inquiry-based learning that incorporates the history of mathematics through original source texts. We provide an overview of results from two semesters of implementation reports and surveys administered at the beginning and end of the semester by instructors who implemented PSPs in their undergraduate mathematics classes.     

A comprehensive theory of representation for mathematics education

Representation is a difficult concept. Behaviorists wanted to get rid of it; many researchers prefer other terms like “conception” or “reasoning” or even “encoding;” and many cognitive science resarchers have tried to avoid the problem by reducing thinking to production rules.There are at least two simple and naive reasons for considering representation as an important subject for scientific study. The first one is that we all experience representation as a stream of internal images, gestures and words. The second one is that the words and symbols we use to communicate do not refer directly to reality but to represented entities: objects, properties, relationships, processes, actions, and constructs, about which there is no automatic agreement between two persons. It is the purpose of this paper to analyse this problem, and to try to connect it with an original analysis of the role of action in representation. The issue is important for mathematics education and even for the epistemology of mathematics, as mathematical concepts have their first roots in the action on, and in the representation of, the physical and social world; even though there may be a great distance today between that pragmatical and empirical source, and the sophisticated concepts of contemporary mathematics.     

Exploring the quality of the mathematical tasks in the new Turkish elementary school mathematics curriculum guidebook: the case of algebra

To take its due place in the world of education, Turkey has been through serious reform initiatives in the curriculums of various school subjects since 2003. The new Turkish elementary school curriculum was prepared considering the research studies conducted in Turkey and in other countries, as well as the educational systems of developed countries and previous experiences with mathematics education in Turkey. This study attempts to provide a perspective on the nature of the instructional tasks in the new elementary school mathematics curriculum. In particular, our focus is to explore the level of cognitive demands (LCD) in the algebra tasks provided in the national elementary mathematics curriculum guidebook. This curriculum document is a major resource for administrators, stakeholders, textbook publishers and ultimately for teachers. For every learning objective, it provides sample tasks to be used in mathematics instructions. In this study, our purpose is to explore the LCD of each of these tasks by utilizing a framework developed by Smith and Stein (Math Teach Middle School 3:344–350, 1998). The framework classifies mathematical tasks according to the level of demands: lower-level and higher-level demands. While the lower-level demands are related to memorization and procedures without connections, the higher-level demands are related to procedures with connections and doing mathematics. The findings revealed that 60% of algebra tasks for each grade level required higher LCD and a great majority of the remaining tasks were at the level of procedures without connections. The findings of the study particularly inform curriculum developers about issues regarding the quality of the tasks given in the curriculum guide and provide possible suggestions to improve the implementation of the curriculum change process.     

Changing patterns of transition from school to university mathematics

There has been widespread concern over the lack of preparedness of students making the transition from school to university mathematics and the changing profile of entrants to mathematical subjects in higher education has been well documented. In this paper, using documentary analysis and data from an informal case study, we locate the antecedents of this changed profile in the general shift across all subjects to a more utilitarian higher education, alongside the more specific changes in A-level mathematics provision which have been largely market driven. Our conclusions suggest that, ironically, changes put in place to make mathematics more widely useful may result in it losing just those features that make it marketable.     

A US perspective on the implementation of inquiry-based learning in mathematics

This paper discusses issues related to the potential adoption of inquiry-based learning (IBL) projects in mathematics in the United States. To explain the challenges faced in making a place for IBL in the mathematics curriculum, we describe the historical demands of working with a diverse, highly distributed educational system (that is, a system that does not have a central educational decision-making agency with the authority to mandate nation-wide changes), the impact of high-stakes tests to either open or limit the potential for curricular changes, and the changing context in the United States owing to the emergence of the Common Core State Standards in Mathematics (CCSS-M) and nationwide high-stakes assessments designed to be consistent with the CCSS-M. We identify a number of dimensions along which there would be challenges for the implementation of IBL in US school mathematics, including: perceived societal needs; schooling traditions; the specific framing of CCSS-M goals pertaining to problem solving, communicating and reasoning, and modeling and data analysis; and the readiness of the US teaching force to implement IBL. We then consider the issue of scaling up interventions such as IBL, and the politics involved therein.     

The Brazilian mathematics textbook assessments

This paper briefly reviews Brazilian textbook policies during the twentieth century, and pays careful attention to its latest development, PNLD—Programa Nacional do Livro Didático (National Textbook Program) and its textbook assessments, which selects textbooks that are freely distributed by the Ministry of Education (MEC) to students of public elementary, middle and high schools. We focus on the mathematics textbook assessments, describing their evolution and commenting on some of their accomplishments and problems. The first assessment was carried out for the 1997 school year and retained basically its initial formulation, with changes and improvements, til the assessment for the 2018 school year. As of now, the program is undergoing substantial changes which are briefly discussed and which worry many educators. This assessment was responsible for a definite improvement of mathematics textbooks for elementary, middle and high schools in Brazil. It constitutes a good example of a successful program, coordinated by competent persons from mathematics education, schools of education and mathematics departments of good universities, at first without political interference, and strongly backed by powerful officials in MEC. In the last few years, pressures from publishers and conservative groups have undermined the assessments, with possibly serious consequences.     

Incorporating the dynamic mathematics software GeoGebra into a history of mathematics course

The purpose of this study was to investigate pre-service teachers’ views about the history of mathematics course in which GeoGebra was used. The qualitative research design was used in this study. The participants of the study consisted of 23 pre-service mathematics teachers studying at a state university in Turkey. An open-ended questionnaire was used as a data collection tool. Qualitative data obtained from the pre-service teachers were analyzed by means of content analysis. As a result, it was determined that GeoGebra software was an effective tool in the learning and teaching of the history of mathematics.