Elementary Student Teachers Practising Mathematical Enquiry at their Level: Experience and Affect
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Date
2013-02-28
Authors
Knoll, Eva
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Abstract
From the time of publication of Polya’s “How to Solve It” (1954), many researchers and
policy makers in mathematics education have advocated an integration of more problem
solving activities into the mathematics classroom. In contemporary mathematics
education, this development is sometimes taken further, through programmes involving
students in mathematics research projects. The activities promoted by some of these
programmes differ from more traditional classroom activities, particularly with regards
to the pedagogic aim. Several of the programmes which can claim to belong to this trend are designed to
promote a less static view of the discipline of mathematics, and to encourage a stronger
engagement in the community of practice that creates it. The question remains,
however, about what such an experience can bring the students who engage in it,
particularly given the de-emphasis on the acquisition of notional knowledge. In the
study described in this thesis, I investigate possible experiential and affective outcomes
of such a programme in the context of a mathematics course targeted at elementary
student teachers.
The study is composed of three main parts. Firstly, the theoretical foundations of the
teaching approach are laid down, with the expressed purpose of creating a module that
would embody these foundations. The teaching approach is applied in an elementary
teacher education context and the experience of the participating students, as well as its
affective outcomes, are examined both from the point of view of authenticity with
respect to the exemplar experience, and for the expected–and unexpected–affective
outcomes. Both of these examinations are based on the establishment of a theoretical
framework which emerges from an investigation of mathematicians’ experience of their
research work, as well as the literature on affective issues in mathematics education.
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Keywords
Mathematics education , Elementary school education , Mathematicians