Implementation and outcomes of inquiry-based learning in mathematics content courses for pre-service teachers

This mixed-methods study describes classroom characteristics and student outcomes from university mathematics courses that are based in mathematics departments, targeted to future pre-tertiary teachers, and taught with inquiry-based learning (IBL) approaches. The study focused on three two-term sequences taught at two research universities, separately targeting elementary and secondary pre-service teachers. Classroom observation established that the courses were taught with student-centred methods that were comparable to those used in IBL courses for students in mathematics-intensive fields at the same institutions. To measure pre-service teachers' gains in mathematical knowledge for teaching, we administered the Learning Mathematics for Teaching (LMT) instrument developed by Hill, Ball and Schilling for in-service teacher professional development. Results from the LMT show that pre-service teachers made significant score gains from beginning to end of their course, while data from interviews and from surveys of learning gains show that pre-service teachers viewed their gains as relevant to their future teaching work. Measured changes on pre-/post-surveys of attitudes and beliefs were generally supportive of learning mathematics but modest in magnitude. The study is distinctive in applying the LMT to document pre-service teachers' growth in mathematical knowledge for teaching. The study also suggests IBL is an approach well suited to mathematics departments seeking to strengthen their pre-service teacher preparation offerings in ways consistent with research-based recommendations.     

An analysis of the form and content of quadrilateral definitions composed by novice pre-service teachers

Mathematical definitions are an important mathematical construct which has been noted as a challenging topic for both teachers and students. This study provides an analysis of the form and content of a set of 308 definitions of quadrilateral types provided by 44 novice pre-service elementary teachers (NPSTs) who had not yet studied geometry or definitions on the college level. Analysis of definition structure including necessary, sufficient, and minimal conditions, as well as hierarchical and partitional structure, provides insight into what NPSTs may think about the form of mathematical definitions in general. Analysis of the properties used in definitions of each shape type and the frequency of those properties reveals the shape types with which NPSTs are most and least familiar. These results are presented alongside possible applications and implications for instruction.     

Procedural and relational understanding of pre-service mathematics teachers regarding spatial perception of angles in pyramids

In this study, we aim to explore the extent of mathematics pre-service teachers’ ability to apply their procedural understanding combined with spatial perception for drawing conceptual conclusions related to angles in a pyramid. The participants are 16 pre-service high school mathematics teachers. They have studied solid geometry during one academic year, solving problems with various 3-D geometric figures including pyramids and engaging in activities designed to develop spatial perception. At the end of the year, they have taken a final test which examines procedural understanding of 3-D geometric figures as well as relational understanding and spatial perception regarding angles in pyramids. The results illustrate that attainments of the majority of the pre-service teachers in problems requiring only procedural understanding are higher than the attainments in problems which require relational understanding. The results also lead to the assumption that relational understanding of learned material requires application of special teaching methods. Hence, we recommend integrating in the syllabus appropriate courses that focus on the development of this type of understanding.     

Differentiation of teaching and learning mathematics: an action research study in tertiary education

Diversity and differentiation within our classrooms, at all levels of education, is nowadays a fact. It has been one of the biggest challenges for educators to respond to the needs of all students in such a mixed-ability classroom. Teachers’ inability to deal with students with different levels of readiness in a different way leads to school failure and all the negative outcomes that come with it. Differentiation of teaching and learning helps addressing this problem by respecting the different levels that exist in the classroom, and by responding to the needs of each learner. This article presents an action research study where a team of mathematics instructors and an expert in curriculum development developed and implemented a differentiated instruction learning environment in a first-year engineering calculus class at a university in Cyprus. This study provides evidence that differentiated instruction has a positive effect on student engagement and motivation and improves students’ understanding of difficult calculus concepts.     

Mexican high school students' social representations of mathematics,its teaching and learning

This paper reports a qualitative research that identifies Mexican high school students’ social representations of mathematics. For this purpose, the social representations of ‘mathematics’, ‘learning mathematics’ and ‘teaching mathematics’ were identified in a group of 50 students. Focus group interviews were carried out in order to obtain the data. The constant comparative style was the strategy used for the data analysis because it allowed the categories to emerge from the data. The students’ social representations are: (A) Mathematics is…(1) important for daily life, (2) important for careers and for life, (3) important because it is in everything that surrounds us, (4) a way to solve problems of daily life, (5) calculations and operations with numbers, (6) complex and difficult, (7) exact and (6) a subject that develops thinking skills; (B) To learn mathematics is…(1) to possess knowledge to solve problems, (2) to be able to solve everyday problems, (3) to be able to make calculations and operations, and (4) to think logically to be able to solve problems; and (C) To teach mathematics is…(1) to transmit knowledge, (2) to know to share it, (3) to transmit the reasoning ability, and (4) to show how to solve problems.     

Continuity and separation in symmetric topologies

The well-known Frobenius rank inequality established by Frobenius in 1911 states that the rank of the product ABC of three matrices satisfies the inequality rank(ABC) U rank(AB) + rank(BC)- rank(B) A new necessary and sufficient condition for equality to hold is presented and then some interesting consequences and applications are discussed.     

An “inverse” relationship between mathematics identities and classroom practices among early career elementary teachers: The impact of accountability

This qualitative case study guided by portraiture examines the relationships between three early career elementary teachers’ beliefs about themselves in relation to mathematics (mathematics identities) and their classroom practices. Through autobiographical inquiry, reflective practice, classroom observations, interviews, and artifacts, findings show that all three second grade teachers appeared to have an “inverse” relationship between their mathematics identities and their classroom practices. In this relationship, as negative as they felt about themselves with regards to mathematics, they expended that much more effort to ensure that their students would have positive experiences with it and not be stigmatized by it as they had been. Accountability to schools, students, and parents, to increase student achievement appeared to play an important role in this relationship. Implications for preservice teacher education, inservice professional development, and research on beliefs and practices are discussed.     

Body‐based activities in secondary geometry: An analysis of learning and viewpoint

Body‐based activities have the potential to support mathematics learning, but we know little about the impact they have in the classroom. This study compares high school geometry students learning through either body‐based or analogous non‐body‐based activities over the course of a two‐week unit on similarity. Pre‐ and post‐tests revealed that while students in both conditions showed gains in content area comprehension over the course of the study, the body‐based condition showed significantly greater gains. Further, there were differences in the language students used to describe the learning activities at the end of the unit that may have contributed to the differences in learning gains. The students in the body‐based condition included more mathematical and nonmathematical details in their recollections. Additionally, students in the body‐based condition were more likely to recall their experiences from a first‐person perspective, while students in the control condition were more likely to use a third‐person perspective.     

Linear quantity models in US and Chinese elementary mathematics classrooms

Linear quantity models such as pre-tapes, tape diagrams, and number line diagrams have drawn increasing attention in mathematics education around the world. However, we still know relatively little about how teachers actually use these models in the classroom. This study explores how exemplary US and Chinese elementary teachers use linear quantity models during mathematics instruction. Based on an examination of 64 videotaped lessons on inverse relations, we identified 110 “diagram episodes.” An analysis of these episodes reveals that linear quantity models, especially tape diagrams, were used more frequently in US classrooms than in Chinese classrooms. However, Chinese lessons used these models for the sole purpose of modeling the underlying quantitative relationships, whereas US lessons mainly used them to aid in computation. In addition, while US teachers rarely involved students in discussion of linear quantity models, Chinese teachers spent significant time engaging students in co-constructing, comparing, and explaining these models.     

The effect of the 4MAT method (learning styles and brain hemispheres) of instruction on achievement in mathematics

The purpose of this study was to determine the efficiency of 4MAT method of instruction in which learning style and cerebral hemispheres are taken into account in teaching the binary operation and its properties in mathematics. The sample of this study comprised 58 ninth grade students in two separate classes in a high school. One of the classes was selected as the experimental group in which 4MAT method of instruction was used; and the other class was selected as the control group in which the traditional teaching was given, and this selection was performed randomly. The data have been obtained primarily from three scales, namely ‘mathematical knowledge test’, ‘mathematical attitude scale’ and ‘knowledge test on binary operation and its properties’. It has been determined that 4MAT method of instruction was more efficient than the traditional method in teaching of the binary operation subject in mathematics.     

A model of professional competences in mathematics to update mathematical and didactic knowledge of teachers

This paper describes part of a research and development project carried out in public elementary schools. Its objective was to update the mathematical and didactic knowledge of teachers in two consecutive levels in urban and rural public schools of Region de Los Lagos and Region de Los Rios of southern Chile. To that effect, and by means of an advanced training project based on a professional competences model, didactic interventions based on types of problems and types of mathematical competences with analysis of contents and learning assessment were designed. The teachers’ competence regarding the didactic strategy used and its results, as well as the students’ learning achievements are specified. The project made possible to validate a strategy of lifelong improvement in mathematics, based on the professional competences of teachers and their didactic transposition in the classroom, as an alternative to consolidate learning in areas considered vulnerable in two regions of the country.