Collaboration between mathematicians and mathematic

education researcher

María Leonor Varasmlvaras@dim.uchile.clUNIVERSIDAD DE CHILE

BIRS, January 2014

Outline

The importance of collaboration in math education and conditions for succes

Who has to be in the team?

Some examples

The need of collaboration(was in many previous presentation)

Complexity of the task of teaching math in real classrooms: Variety of aspects that interact Even the mathematical aspects of school

mathematics are not evident for mathematicians The need to understand this complexity and

to act effectively in this context Mathematicians have no direct participation

in the achievement of the goals of their effort: the development of the pupils.

Conditions for successful colaboration

Respect Empathy and awareness of the real

conditions (authority factors, social status of the profession, pressure, ways of hide uncomfortable position)

Genuine interest in what the other bring To share interest and goals in a common

(precise) problem (teachers want (need) their students development)

Who has te be in the team?

Teachers, math education researcher, ……, sociologist, anthropologist, psychologist, experts in psychometry, neuroscientist,….

On the development of pupils’ and teachers’ mathematical understanding and performance when dealing with open-ended problems

Academy of Finland project #135556 CONICYT Chile project Aka-09

Erkki Pehkonen Leonor VarasUniversity of Helsinki Universidad de Chile

Purpose

To develop a model for improving the level of understanding and performance of pupils and teachers when using open-ended problems in elementary school mathematics, with the active participation of teachers, and experimentation in real classrooms in Chile and Finland.

Implementation

Three-year follow-up study in elementary school from grade 3 to grade 5 in Finland and Chile.

In each country there are two groups: control and experimental.

Once a month, the teachers plan together with the researchers an open ended problem solving lesson.

These lessons are videotaped. At the beginning of the project and at the end, the students

are assessed, they answer a questionnaire and they draw their math class.

The teachers answer a questionnaire. At the beginning of the experiment, a large sample of

teachers of third grade classes (about 100 in each country) was charted with questionnaires.

Participating classes in Santiago

14 classes in the experimental group from 9 different schools: two classes in 5 public schools of the same county (Quinta Normal) each, 2 charter schools of SIP net, 2 regular charter schools.

The control group is constituted by 14 classes of the same characteristics as above.

IMPACT OF DIFFERENT WAYS TO INTRODUCE A PROBLEM SOLVING TASK ON PUPILS PERFORMANCE

The 12th International Congress on Mathematical Education

July, 8~15, 2012, COEX, Seoul, Korea

Below there are two arithmagons, you should find the missing numbers in the corners.

Arithmagons can be solved in many ways. How did you solve it? Did you find a method for solving any arithmagons, when the numbers on the sides are given and two of those are the same?

6

8

8

2

5

5

The task for the pupils:

Research project on

Teacher Knowledge

Validating MKT instrumentsDeveloping new assesmentComparing populations

Ball, Bass, 2008

The new instrument to assess a PCK component: teacher´s knowledge about how students learn mathematics

It is very difficult to develope good items to measure this knowledge and

Impossible whithout the participation of experienced teachers and math educators.

The importance of practice

Research project on School Effectiveness

Leaded by a sociologist and a economist working at CIAE in the area of Educational Policies

Mathematicians were invited to analyse quality of math instruction.

We are applying the MQI protocol of H. Hill

Research strand 1: Explaining school effectiveness improvement, with an emphasis on mathematics.

Specific objectives

1. Identify the factors associated with the improvement of primary school effectiveness, exploring the presence of heterogeneous effects according to the relevant characteristics of the schools and their pupils.

2. Compare the trajectories of educational improvement in the Chilean school system with international evidence.

3. To study, in schools which have systematically improved their effectiveness, the contribution to students’ academic achievements of teacher-pupil interaction in general terms, (emotional support, classroom management and pedagogic support) and specifically the quality of math teaching, (pedagogic knowledge of the discipline, quality of math teaching and beliefs about mathematics and its instruction).

Research strand 2: Exploring the sustainability of school improvement

Specific objectives 4. To analyze the level of stability/volatility of the

processes to improve effectiveness, estimated from schools over the last decade, exploring factors associated with the sustainability of school improvement.

5. Understand in depth the evolution in the long term, (approximately a decade) of schools in poor environments previously considered to be highly effective, linking internal and external processes that have had an impact on the school, with their actual status in terms of educational performance

Many thanks

for your attention!

Thank you