[Maths-Education] Seminar: 26th June at King's
Jeremy Hodgen
jeremy.hodgen at kcl.ac.uk
Mon Jun 18 15:49:12 BST 2007
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
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