The aim of this article is to illustrate how Systemic functional linguistics (SFL) can be used as methodological tool for analysing the meaning of texts from two different studies. An analysis using SFL provides insights into how different concepts of mathe- matical literacy operate in the text. SFL considers language to be a resource used for expressing meaning in specific contexts that accomplishes specific communication purposes. Therefore, SFL contains opportunities for highlighting different aspects of mathematics education which are of interest to researchers. In Sweden, the SFL approach has been used in other research areas but references to it in mathematics education research have been limited.
Students’ pre-knowledge and conceptual development in analysis were investigated at a teacher education program to reveal what pre-knowledge endured and how the students perceived the concepts a year after the course had ended. Questionnaires and interviews were used to collect data. Two students’ results are presented in more detail in the article. The study was cognitively framed with the influence of situated theories to take as many aspects of concept development into account as possible. The students showed numerous connections between concepts, but they were often unable to discern valid links from invalid links. The perceived richness from many connections causes unjustifiably strong self-confidence which prevents further work with the concept. A tool for classification of the students’ connections between concepts resulted from the analysis.
This article elaborates on the construct of contextualization, which constitutes a constructivist contextual view on learning. Principles of constructivism and contextualization are operationalized into a set of four analytical categories, that teacher and researchers can use for organizing thinking about teaching and learning mathematics. The categories are discussed and verified throughout the design and analysis of a classroom compatible learning activity, which is supposed to promote probabilistic reasoning.Suggestions for developing the operationalization are discussed and, on account of that, the article invites for future efforts, where the explanatory power of contextualization and its analytical categories are further explored.
This paper aims at profiling Swedish teachers’ knowledge base in probability. 43 teachers in compulsory school answered a questionnaire on probability estimation tasks and concept tasks. In the concept tasks, they were challenged to explain their solutions and the content involved in the probability estimation tasks. We distin- guish five patterns in the teachers’ knowledge profile: 1) a basic understanding of the theoretical interpretation of probability, 2) problems with structuring compound events, 3) difficulty with conjunction and conditional probability, 4) a higher degree of common content knowledge than of specialized content knowledge and 5) limited understanding of random variation and principles of experimental probability.
Given the importance of a critical-analytical disposition in the case of graphical artefacts, this paper explores graphicacy based on students’ answers to an item from PISA survey test. Primarily, results from the written test were analyzed using PISA’s doubledigit rubrics or coding. In evaluating these categories, it is observed that just a small percentage of students are able to produce answers that reflect a critical-analytical approach with respect to the use of statistical/mathematical operators and forms of expressions. Secondly, video observation shows that students tend to employ what is perceived as an ”identification approach” while discussing the task. Whereas elements of mathematical and statistical ideas can be identified in the students’ discussion, these are not explicitly stated and are largely submerged in everyday concerns and forms of expression.
The theories and results discussed in this article are from a study investigating the identity development of novice primary mathematics teachers. The article has two aims: first, to elaborate the notion of beliefs in relation to the notions of identity and identity development, with the purpose of developing a framework to investigate the process of becoming and being a teacher of mathematics; and second, to offer an example of the use of this framework in a study of novice primary mathematics teachers. The core of the example is the case of Jenny, a Swedish novice primary mathematics teacher. Jenny’s case, however, is not simply about her but also identity development when the formal aspect of employment is missing, a case not rare in Sweden.
This article focuses on the mathematics teaching of Helena, a Swedish novice teacher. Helena is one of seven teachers in a case study of primary school mathematics teachers’ professional identity development. She is also an example of a teacher whose mathematics teaching, from an observer’s perspective, may appear inconsistent with her talk about mathematics teaching. However, in this article a conceptual framework aimed at analysing professional identity development will be used making the process of her mathematics teaching visible and then her mathematics teaching appear as consistent.
This article addresses the question of what is considered possible – desirable – plausible in preschool mathematics. On the one hand, there is a growing consensus that preschool mathematics matters, on the other hand, there are different opinions about how it should be designed and what constitutes an appropriate content. In the article we provide an overview of similarities and differences found in eight articles published in a thematic issue of NOMAD on preschool mathematics. The overview is based on Bernstein’s notions vertical and horizontal discourses, and how content for learning is described as basic or advanced mathematics. The aim is not to evaluate or rate the articles but to illustrate diversity regarding possible – desirable – plausible in current research of preschool mathematics.
The focus of this article is methodological, on how teachers’ participation in practice-based research coacts with research quality. Educational design research is an example of a practice-based research approach often used in mathematics education with the goal of developing both the theories and the practice of teaching and learning mathematics. In this article, one such educational design research study on problem solving in Swedish preschool class is used as an example of how teachers’ participation in practice-based research can develop and of how different kinds of collaboration between researchers and teachers coact with research quality. One conclusion of the methodological meta-analysis is that there is a challenging tension between ensuring external validity of a study versus enabling internal validity and improvement of practice.
This article reports on an intervention where possibilities and limitations with problem-solving as a basis for mathematics education in pre-school class were studied. In the article we explore how 50 children use non-guided documentation when working with a problem-solving task about probability. The results show that the task was possible to work with for these young children, and in the follow-up interviews many of the children seemed familiar with the mathematical concepts used, as well as with a relevant sample space. The children’s non-guided documentation showed a diversity of strategies and contributed positively to their exploration of probability, both during the lesson and in the final discussions.