Transcript Nordic Graduate School in Mathematics Education

Nordic Graduate School in
Mathematics Education
The Nordic Graduate School is situated
at Agder University College in
Kristiansand, Norway
and financed by NordForsk 2004-2008
The aim of a Nordic Graduate
School in mathematics education
• support and develop the education of researchers in
mathematics education in the Nordic and Baltic
countries,
• create constructive cooperation in order to raise the
scientific quality of research in mathematics education,
• give all doctoral students in mathematics education
access to the activities of the Graduate School
• create cooperation among a greater group of doctoral
students and supervisors in order to share experiences
and opportunities to improve the education of
researchers.
The utmost aim is to create a network of cooperating
partners, who can continue to collaborate after the five
years of the Graduate School.
Activities in the Nordic Graduate
School in Mathematics Education
• Common courses created with the added competence
from all researchers in the Nordic countries and
international partners
• Summer schools building on earlier good experience
from similar arrangements
• Seminar-series in specific research areas as a
complement to local series and workshops on subjects
or issues of main importance
• Competence development for supervisors and exchange
of experience
• Partnership and collaboration with distinguished
international scholars
• Creating a database for ongoing work, theses and
greater development work in mathematics education
• Mobility stipends and special financial support for
doctoral students
Courses that has been offered from 2004
• Theory of science from a mathematics education
perspective
• Metaperspectives on mathematics and the learning of
mathematics in a technological environment
• History of mathematics with emphasis on modern
mathematics
• Theoretical aspects of mathematics education with
emphasis on the French School
• Problemsolving
• Theories of learning and teaching mathematics
• Research design and research methods
• Views of knowing and learning: Constructivism and
sociocultural theory
• Gender and mathematics education
Summer school
• 2004 - four students and the director took part in
the YERME summer school in Podebrady
• 2005 - 30 students took part in the NoGSME
summer school in Jyväskylä
• 2006 – 20 students took part in the NoGSME
summer school in Dømmesmoen at the HiA
campus
• 2007 – NoGSME offers a summer school in
Laugarvatn in Iceland, 40 participants
• 2008 – NoGSME will offer a summer school in
Denmark or Sweden
Seminars for supervisors
• Sept 2004 in Vasa, Quality in research
• April 2005 in Korsør, Quality in theses
• Sept 2005 in Trondheim, The supervision
relations
• Nov 2005 in Lund, Reviewing of papers
• May 2006 in Vasa, Research education
programmes in maths education
• October 2006 in Denmark, Education of new
supervisors
• February 2007 in Norway, Reviewing of scientific
papers and publication policies
• October 2007 in Sweden
Workshops
• Sept 2005 in Trondheim, workshop on
Classroom research
• May 2006 in Kristiansand, workshop on
Research on mathematics textbooks
• November 2006 workshop on Theoretical
frameworks for research on use of ICT in
mathematics education
• April 2007 in Sigtuna, workshop on Research on
mathematics and language
• November 2007 workshop on Justification in
mathematics and science education research
and the role of theory in the justification
The board of the Nordic
Graduate
School in Mathematics Education
• Barbro Grevholm,
director
• Christer Bergsten
• Trygve Breiteig
• Ole Björkqvist
• Gudny Gunnarsdottir
• Madis Lepik
• Mogens Niss
Cooperation with Nomad
• NoGSME has a close cooperation with
Nomad, Nordic Studies in Mathematics
Education
• Doctoral students and supervisors are
invited to publish in Nomad
• In each issue of Nomad a few pages are
devoted to the NoGSME programme and
activities
International centers of excellence
are working partners.
• Institute of Advanced Study, La Trobe
university, Gilah Leder
• Concordia University, Anna Sierpinska
• University of Michigan, Hyman Bass &
Deborah Ball
• University 7, Paris, Michele Artigue
• University of Klagenfurt, Didaktik der
Mathematik, Williblad Dörfler
National Graduate Schools
• A Finnish Graduate School in mathematics
and science education since 20 years
• A Swedish Graduate School in
mathematics didactics 2000-2006, 21
doctoral students were taken up, 8 has
finished so far.
• A Danish Graduate School in mathematics
and science education started 2004.
Research in the Nordic countries –
some examples
Morten Misfeldt defended his dissertation
in January at the Danish University of
Education. The title is Mathematical writing
and it consists of a monograph. The thesis
reports research into the ways various
technologies support mathematical writing.
One of the main theoretical outcomes is
the attempt to view mathematical writing
simultaneously as a creative writing
process and as a mathematical problemsolving process.
• Kristin Bjarnardottir defended her thesis at
Roskilde University Center. Her thesis
carries the title Mathematical Education in
Iceland in a Historical context of socioeconomic demands and influences. The
data consists of historical documents from
the development of school mathematics in
Iceland and her dissertation is a
monograph. The Icelandic educational
system and the socio-economic
implications on mathematical education
are subjected to a historically based
analysis.
• At the University of Helsinki, Iiris Attorps
defended her dissertation Mathematics teachers’
conceptions about equations, a monograph (a
substantial volume with 231 pages). The aim of
the study is to describe and clarify the
mathematics teachers’ subject matter and
pedagogical content conceptions about
equations. The research shows that some of the
teachers included in the study do not have clear
conceptions about what the pupils should learn
in algebra at compulsory school. Both expert
and novice teachers have various
apprehensions of the pupils’ difficulties
concerning equations.
• Kristina Juter defended her dissertation at
Kristianstad University. The title of her work is
Limits of functions, University Students concept
development and she has followed university
students during their first course of tertiary
mathematics and inquired into their development
of the limit concept. One of her results is that
many students complete basic courses in
calculus without ever understanding the notion
of limits, or even understanding that they do not
understand limits. Kristina Juter interprets her
findings to argue that connectedness and
continuity are essential features of teaching and
learning limits to prevent students from failing.
• Lil Engström carried out the defence of the
thesis in Stockholm and the work is called
Möjligheter till lärande i matematik
(Opportunities to learn mathematics, a
monograph in Swedish). The study examines
how teachers formulate mathematical problems,
how they use the experiences students have
gained and what use they make of the potential
of computer software. One result is that the
teachers’ ability to pose thought-provoking openended problems is the most important factor as it
significantly influences what the students learn.
Lil followed three teachers (in Sweden and
Switzerland) and a group of student teachers
and the software used was Cabri-Geometrie.
Mette Andresen defended her dissertation, Taking
advantage of computer use for increased flexibility of
mathematical conceptions, at the Danish University of
Pedagogy. Mette Andresen's study is part of a larger
project in Denmark called World Class Math &
Science. In a sub project each student had a laptop,
with computer algebra software, at their disposal.
Participants gained the experience that computer use
in upper secondary school mathematics has a
potential. Mette’s questions were: "Is flexibility a
supportive construct for articulation of experiences of
teaching and learning within a modelling approach? Is
it useful for realisation of the learning potential of
students' concept formation?"
• Gunnar Sjöberg defended his dissertation at
Umeå University in the Graduate School of
Pedagogical work. The title is If it is not
dyscalculia - what is it then? He investigated
the concept of dyscalculia in the research
literature and found that it is an ill-defined or not
defined concept. The pupils he followed from
grade five in school to upper secondary school
were said to be in mathematics difficulties but
many of them later succeded in the subject.
One crucial factor seems to be the short time
these pupils spend on mathematics learning,
often less that half an hour per school week.
• Monica Johansson at Luleå University of
Technology wrote about Teaching mathematics
with textbooks - a classroom and curricular
perspective. The focus is the relationship
between the textbook and the curriculum. She
shows that the textbook influences not only
what kind of tasks students are working with
during the lessons, but also the examples the
teacher presents on the board, what kind of
concepts are introduced and how they are
introduced. The study shows the relative
autonomy of the mathematics teacher in
relation to the most common teaching tool in
Swedish classrooms - the textbook.
• Örjan Hansson is, as is Monica, a member of
the Swedish Graduate School in Mathematics
Education.. The work carries the title Studying
the views of pre-service teachers on the
concept of function. Three different groups of
pre-service mathematics and science teachers
for grade 4-9 were his informants.
• The concept of function is rarely a well
integrated concept and the pre-service
teachers’ view of the concept is represented by
a less developed knowledge structure than one
could wish for. Thus there are many
implications for the teaching of pre-service
teachers.
• Andreas Ryve's dissertation took place at
Mälardalen University. The title is Approching
mathematical discourse. Two analytical
frameworks and their relation to problem
solving interactions. His main aim is to
investigate how conceptual understanding and
problem solving can become natural parts of
mathematics teaching and thus of students'
mathematical knowledge construction. He
shows that the classroom discourse can be
characterized in terms of subject oriented,
didactically oriented and problem solving
oriented discourses.
More examples
• Approaching proof in a community of
mathematical practice
• Assessing mathematical creativity
• Understanding mathematical texts
Coming up are the following
• Historical theses in mathematics education
• Problem-solving in small groups
Entering a new era for Nordic
research in mathematics education
• A critical mass of reserchers and studies
• A community through NoGSME and
Nomad
• Doctoral education in ME at more
universities
• Nordic conferences and books....
...... how will this influence mathematics in
schools?
Contact-information
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For more information contact
Barbro Grevholm, [email protected]
Department of mathematical subjects
Agder University College
Serviceboks 422, N-4604 Kristiansand, Norway
• Visit our website: http://www.nogsme.no