Session Information
24 SES 04.5 PS, General Poster Session
General Poster Session
Contribution
The poster is an overview of my dissertation, which I put forward in May. The aim of my dissertation is to illuminate the interactive aspects of interest and engagement in mathematics identified by researchers, teachers and students in years 6-9. Unlike most studies, the concepts are approached in relation to mathematical content. In particular, the research questions deal with what students attend to when dealing with mathematical relations; how interest and engagement are indicated and what didactical strategies teacher use in algebra introduction; and the nature of interesting and engaging tasks are studied. Interest and engagement are discussed in light of the Theory of Didactical Situations in Mathematics (TDS), more specifically the concepts of didactical contract and different levels of such and didactical strategies used by teachers in grade 6-7 to engage students in introductory algebra.
The results presented in this poster show that there are opportunities to interest and engage students when students pose questions of the relevance structure, validating the solutions of tasks on mathematical relationships. In algebra introduction, interest and engagement are indicated by verbalization, high concentration and gestures in connection to showing enthusiasm when exploring the concept of variables, as well as contributing to other students’ ideas and reasoning.
Useful didactical strategies are connected to open questions on what variables are and the choice of context when presenting the concept. In addition, arranging for students’ validation of incorrect use of variables when writing expressions were pointed out as useful.
Interesting and engaging tasks have been analyzed by using the mathematical task framework (MTF), taking student comments on what makes a task interesting and engaging into consideration. Among other qualities, the content in the fore, a high level of challenge and elements of sharing. Supported by those empirical findings, it seems important to design didactical situations and tasks where interest and engagement are intentional and to put the target knowledge into the foreground.
Method
Expected Outcomes
References
Ainley, M.D. (2012). Student interest and engagement in classroomactivities. In Handbook of Research on Student engagement (pp 283-320). Azevedo, F. S., diSessa, A. A., & Sherin, B. L. (2012). An evolving framework for describing student engagement in classroom activities. The Journal of Mathematical Behavior, 31(2), 270–289 Bikner-Ahsbahs, A. (2002). Interest Density a Concept for an Interactionist View Of Interest In Maths Classes. Presented at the CERME. Bikner-Ahsbahs, A. (2004). Interest-dense situations and their mathematical valances. Presented at the CERME. Brousseau, G. (1986). Basic theory and methods in the didactics of mathematics. In: Verstappen, P (Eds.). Report of the second conference on "Systematic Cooperation Between Theory and Practice in Mathematics Education". SLO, Enschede, pp. 109-161 Brousseau, G. (1997). Theory of Didactical Situations in Mathematics. London: Kluwer Academic Publishers. Clarke, D., Emanuelsson, J., & Jablonka, E. (Eds.). (2006). Making Connections: Comparing Mathematics Classrooms Around the World. Sense Publishers. Krapp, A. (2007). An educational-psychological conceptualisation of interest. International Journal for Educational and Vocational Guidance , 7(1), 5-21. Kong, Q.-P., Wong, N.-Y., & Lam, C.-C. (2003). Student engagement in mathematics: Development of instrument and validation of construct. Mathematics Education Research Journal, 15(1), 4–21. Ma, X. (1997). Reciprocal relationships between attitude toward mathematics and achievement in mathematics. Journal of Educational Research, 90(4), 221-229. Ma, X., & Kishor, N. (1997). Assessing the Relationship between Attitude toward Mathematics and Achievement in Mathematics: A Meta-Analysis. Journal for Research in Mathematics Education, 28(1), 26–47. Nyman, R & Emanuelsson, J. (2013). What do students attend to? Students' Task-Related Attention in Swedish Settings. In Kaur, Anthony, Ohtani & Clarke (Red.), Student Voice in Mathematics Classroom Around the World (pp 115-132). Rotterdam: Sense. Nyman, R & Kilhamn, C. (2015). Enhancing engagement in algebra: didactical strategies implemented and discussed by teachers. Scandinavian Journal of Educational Research. 59(6), 623-637. Nyman, R. (2015). Indicators of student engagement: What teachers notice during introductory algebra lessons. The International Journal of Mathematics Teaching and Learning. 15(3). OECD. (2004). Learning of Tomorrow’s World - PISA 2003. OECD: Paris OECD. (2015). Improving schools in Sweden: a OECD perspective. OECD Paris Renninger, K. A. (1992). The Role of Interest in Learning and Development. New York: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates. Rezat, S., & Strässer, R. (2012). From the didactical triangle to the socio - didactical tetrahedron: Artifacts and fundamental constituents of the didactical situation. ZDM, 44(5), 641-651.
Search the ECER Programme
- Search for keywords and phrases in "Text Search"
- Restrict in which part of the abstracts to search in "Where to search"
- Search for authors and in the respective field.
- For planning your conference attendance you may want to use the conference app, which will be issued some weeks before the conference
- If you are a session chair, best look up your chairing duties in the conference system (Conftool) or the app.