Proceedings of the Day Conference held on Saturday 4th March 2023
Contents
01 Towards an enactivist methodology for analysing a large video data set
Alistair Bissell
University of Bristol
This article begins to outline a methodology for working with a large video data set, in line with an enactivist theoretical stance. Between 2020 and 2022 I ran 5 cohorts of an online course, using Zoom, aimed at supporting teachers of A level Maths to develop their pedagogy. I have recorded around 70 hours of video and Zoom has transcribed the audio. I share some representations of data created in R, a programming language for statistical computing and graphics, showing how these could be used to select sections of video for further, more detailed, analysis.
02 Learning from a hundred years of teaching about fractions and decimals
Rose Griffiths
University of Leicester
This paper describes one aspect of a much larger research and development project, funded by the Nuffield Foundation, which aims to support teachers when working with common and decimal fractions. I examined published guidance for teachers from 1917 to 2021, using the Mathematical Association archive at the University of Leicester, and our project team’s personal collections of teachers’ books and textbooks, searching for thought-provoking ideas which might be useful for present-day teachers. We were particularly interested in differences from before 1971, when the currency in the UK was decimalized and metric measurement became more common. The search confirmed our interest in the two contexts of sharing and measuring. It made us think further about the accessibility of mixed numbers to younger children; new definitions of ‘families’ of fractions; of the importance of halves and tenths; and of building upon children’s existing understanding of fractions from their everyday life.
03 Duo Virtual Reality and tangible artefacts in geometry education review
Liying Huang, Taro Fujita
University of Exeter
Geometry is an essential part of the mathematical education of pupils and students at all levels of education and is considered a basic mathematical skill. Given the importance of geometric reasoning skills, this study aims to contribute to the successful development of students’ geometric reasoning skills through a combination of virtual reality and tangible objects. To achieve our study aim, we will investigate the following research questions: What geometric/spatial thinking skills can be developed through the use of duo Virtual Reality and tangible artefacts for students? How do students use duo Virtual Reality and tangible artefacts when solving a problem involving geometric/spatial thinking skills? In particular, the review discusses three areas: 1) the instructional performance of teachers and students, 2) the configuration of the VR device and software and the tangible artefact, and 3) models of the development of spatial thinking skills and instructional design.
Mehmet Kasım Koyuncu
Istanbul Sabahattin Zaim University
As of 2022 in Turkey, there are eight SSCI-indexed academic journals, only one of which aims at publication within the scope of educational research. Since the researcher’s field of study is mathematics education, examining the articles on mathematics education in this journal motivated him to conduct this study. Therefore, this study aims to explore the mathematics education studies published in an SSCI-indexed journal in Turkey. Through this means, I intend to inform all my colleagues about mathematics education studies in Turkey’s most prestigious academic journal, which adopts the principle of publishing educational research. According to the findings, it is possible to say that it is the only journal with the SSCI index in the field of education in Turkey and that 8% of the research between 2007-2022 in this journal is related to mathematics education.
Ems Lord1, Liz Woodham1 and David Millington2
1 University of Cambridge, 2 The Natural Curriculum
The Natural Curriculum is an online teaching and learning resource using BBC natural history videos to inspire and enthuse young learners. The project, which adopts a cross-curricular approach, began as a collaboration between primary school teacher David Millington and the Educational Recording Agency (ERA). Initially its resources focused on using natural world video clips as a stimulus for teaching primary literacy. The project later expanded to include primary mathematics. In the academic year 2021/22 NRICH and The Natural Curriculum collaborated to design four online problem-solving mathematics lessons for primary-aged learners. The lessons were trialed in nine primary settings where feedback was collected using pupil questionnaires and teacher interviews. The findings indicated positive impacts on both pupil engagement and learning, but also highlighted possible challenges facing practitioners regarding the perception of the primary mathematics curriculum among some learners.
Natheaniel Machino
University of East Anglia
Education systems globally went into a state of emergency when COVID- 19 struck, and there was no choice but to go online in teaching and initial teacher education including mentoring. During this challenging period, education systems learnt much which could be beneficial thereafter. In this paper, I report findings of the analysis of ten questionnaire and seven follow up interview responses to two questions: What are the challenges of mentoring mathematics student teachers during COVID? What have you learnt which you think could be carried post COVID? Following thematic analysis, nine themes emerged but due to space limitations, four themes; teamwork, digital technology, mathematics needs physical demonstration, and recording lessons and meetings are discussed.
08 School mathematics education in Ukraine: challenges and prospects
Volodymyr Proshkin
Loughborough University
Education in Ukraine, particularly mathematics, underwent some transformations during the years of independence. Orientation to the European educational space encourages the development of new standards and school curricula that meet today’s demands (practically oriented learning, conceptual understanding of mathematics, research-based learning etc.). At the same time, mathematics school education faces many problems, including a decrease in the level of teaching of mathematical subjects, the inconsistency of the education content with the requirements of today, the low quality of textbooks, and the lack of appropriate conditions for providing specialised mathematics education. The report presents the research results to identify pupils’ mathematical literacy and the level of STEM education. A study of more than 3,000 pupils revealed typical knowledge gaps caused by distance learning during the Covid-19 pandemic. To overcome the identified problems, particular methodical recommendations were developed.
Mary Stevenson1, Alison Hopper2, Ruth Richmond3 and Zoe Nye4
1 National Centre for Excellence in the Teaching of Mathematics, 2 Mathematics in Education and Industry, 3 Tudor Grange Academy Trust, 4 Bishop Grosseteste University
We report on work of the Years 5-8 Continuity project, which runs across England in Maths Hubs, led by the National Centre for Excellence in the Teaching of Mathematics (NCETM). The aim of this project is to strengthen primary to secondary transition by focusing on curriculum and pedagogical continuity in mathematics over Years 5 to 8. Promotion of cross-phase teacher collaboration is central. The vehicle for teacher development is the Work Group, whereby groups of teachers led by an experienced colleague work collaboratively over a period of time. In 2021-22 a small research team began to explore the impact of this project on teachers’ pedagogical practice and school policy/approaches. We discuss findings from internal evaluation, and from small scale case studies carried out by this team. Early findings indicate that cross-phase engagement with colleagues through focused and sustained professional activity is having a positive impact on practice and school/departmental approaches.
Özdemir Tiflis1 and İpek Saralar-Aras2
1 Brunel University London, 2 Ministry of National Education
When teaching mathematics, several academics have emphasised the potential of STEM education for improving students’ knowledge and engagement. According to studies, mathematics teachers’ perspectives and awareness of this potential affect their instructional practices, and as a result, their perspectives have an impact on whether and how they incorporate STEM lessons in their syllabi. Recent research has shown that teachers must have more expertise on how to incorporate STEM learning scenarios into their classes. This study looked at the effectiveness of a STEM education professional development programme for mathematics teachers with the goal of improving their understanding of STEM education and learning scenarios. This study presents the findings of a programme that comprised specific learning sessions for 267 mathematics teachers on STEM education in general, and various types of STEM learning scenarios, i.e., contributions of programme to teachers.
Pete Wright1, Caroline Hilton2 and Joel Kelly3
1 University of Dundee, 2 IOE, UCL’s Faculty of Education & Society, 3 The Blue School, CofE
We report on initial findings from the Primary Maths and Social Justice (PMSJ) research project which we carried out in 2021-22. We adopted a model of participatory action research in working collaboratively with a team of six teacher researchers from two primary schools in Greater London. The main aims were to explore how primary school teachers can maintain and build on their initial interest in addressing social justice issues through their teaching of mathematics, and to consider how to help students develop their critical understanding of mathematics and collective mathematical agency. We present and discuss three themes that emerged from the thematic analysis of transcripts from research team meetings and interviews with the teacher researchers: teachers’ appreciation that young children can engage with mathematics and social justice; teachers’ varying and developing relationships with mathematics; and students growing appreciation of how mathematics can be used to argue collectively for change.