[Maths-Education] Seminar: 26th June at King's

[Jeremy Hodgen]

Dear All,

You are cordially invited to the following seminar at King's College  
London on 26th June (4.30-6.00)  by Birgit Pepin in the maths ed  
seminar series at King's College London.
All welcome
RSVP

Jeremy

Using connectivity as an analytical tool to analyse mathematics  
textbooks, and mathematical tasks in textbooks, in England, France  
and Germany

Dr Birgit Pepin

University of Manchester



								   Tuesday 26th June 2007

4.30 - 6.00 pm



  Abstract:

In previous research (Pepin and Haggarty, 2001; Haggarty and Pepin,  
2002) we used an analysis schedule developed from the literature to  
investigate textbooks, and subsequently linked this to teachers’ use  
of those textbooks in English, French and German lower secondary  
mathematics classrooms. This gave us an understanding of the  
similarities and differences of mathematics textbooks and how these  
were influenced by educational traditions in the three countries. A  
growing interest in the research literature on ‘mathematical  
understanding’ and ‘connections’, and in relation to this in the  
mathematical tasks offered in textbooks, encouraged us to re-analyse  
the textbooks on the basis of that new research literature. Thus, in  
this study we used our knowledge of textbooks and the analysis of  
textbooks to develop a deeper understanding of connections made in  
textbook tasks.



In this presentation we contend that connectivity and the making of  
‘connections’ can be used as an analytical tool to analyse tasks with  
respect to potential pupil understanding of mathematics, and we  
subsequently identify ways of making connections in mathematical  
tasks (in textbooks).  Furthermore, the ways in which mathematical  
tasks vary in lower secondary level textbooks in England, France and  
Germany are investigated, and in particular the ways connections are  
made. We examine popular selling textbooks in each country and their  
treatment of ‘Negative Numbers’. Connections are explored in terms of  
interconnectedness of mathematical content knowledge, and tasks and  
exercises are investigated with respect to cognitive demand and  
contextualisation. An analysis of the data suggests that different  
countries provide different connections within and ‘out of’  
mathematics for their students in school textbooks. Whereas in some  
countries’ textbooks students are inundated with skills, procedures  
and disconnected mathematical knowledge, in others students are shown  
the interconnectedness and generalisable nature of mathematics. This  
in turn is likely to influence students’ perception of what  
mathematics is and what it is to behave mathematically.





Venue:

Room G8, Franklin Wilkins Building Annex, Waterloo Road.

The entrance to the School of Education is on Waterloo Road, just off  
Waterloo Bridge.

A map of the locality is available at:

http://www.kcl.ac.uk/about/maa/sc.html



You are invited to stay for drinks at 7.00.

All are welcome. RSVP

Jeremy

Dr Jeremy Hodgen
Lecturer in Mathematics Education
King's College, London
Department of Education and Professional Studies
Franklin-Wilkins Building
Waterloo Bridge Wing
150 Stamford Street
London SE1 9NH

Tel: 020 7848 3102
Fax: 020 7848 3182
E-mail: jeremy.hodgen at kcl.ac.uk