Students' Expectations And Experiences As Determinants Of Mathematics Lesson

Author(s):

Lasse Eronen(presenting / submitting)Päivi Portaankorva-Koivisto

Conference:

ECER 2013

Network:

24. Mathematics Education Research

Format:

Paper

Session Information

24 SES 04, Mathematics Curriculum & Student Experiences

Paper Session

Time:

2013-09-11

09:00-10:30

Room:

D-405

Chair:

Harry Silfverberg

Contribution

Students’ beliefs about mathematics and mathematics learning (cf. Furinghetti & Pehkonen 2002) can have a substantial impact on their interest in mathematics, their enjoyment of mathematics, and their motivation in mathematics classes (Kloosterman, 2002). In the latest PIRLS and TIMMS evaluations, the Finnish pupils' success in mathematics was lower than earlier, and their motivation to studying mathematics was one of the lowest in these comparisons. This has resulted in the decision makers to start to look for more suitable and pupil centered pedagogical methods to teach mathematics (Ministry of Education 2012). The Finnish school system is facing the same problems as for example USA; the mathematics education community is officially committed to the constructivist ideas of teaching, but traditional teaching practices change slowly (cf. Ravitz et al. 2000).

Socio-constructivist learning in mathematics education is based on two premises: learning must be collaborative and problem-based. In collaborative learning the key factors are the teams that define their goals and work with determination to achieve these goals without personal purposes. (see Haapasalo 2011). The team is a community where working is equal, discussive and aiming at consensus. Problem-based learning means that learning takes place in a problem situation thus providing a logical-cognitive conflict that the team must process. (Haapasalo 2011). According to these two requirements the realization of socio-constructivist learning on the ideal level requires that the team has autonomy in choosing tasks that they think to contain a problem situation. Recent mathematics education research in Finland has developed different learning and teaching practices. Research like Lived-experience-oriented mathematics education (Portaankorva-Koivisto 2010) or “Classpad-project” learning (Eronen&Haapasalo 2011) offer teacher possibility to organize their teaching from the socio-constructivistic paradigm.

This paper introduces a study where research task was to examine how lower secondary school pupils' expectations of and experiences on mathematics lesson might overlap. The task led us to the following research questions: 1) what students are hoping for mathematics lesson? 2) What kind of experiences lower secondary school students have in mathematics learning, teaching and studying? By hopes in this context we mean the elements that make the mathematics lesson a dream, and by experiences we mean the elements that are found in the students' comparisons between mathematics and selected school subject.

Method

Eronen the data for research question #1 has collected among 7th graders (n = 18) through two essays. The students produced their essays successively using the following assignments: 1) Describe your dream mathematics lesson, in which you would learn best and where you enjoy. 2) Describe a nighmarish mathematics lessons that would be opposite to your dreams. The data was analyzed with Grouded Theory approach. The data concerning research question #2 was gathered in one Finnish lower secondary school (cf. Portaankorva-Koivisto & Silfverberg 2012). Altogether 247 students (96 7th graders, 85 8th graders and 66 9th graders) wrote a short essay, in which they were asked to compare mathematics with another school subject they had chosen. The essay had to include at the same time both similarities and differences between the subjects and between studying of those subjects. The assignment was as follows: Compare to each other mathematics and studying mathematics with another subject. Come up with at least 5 similarities and 5 differences. Write in such a way that the reader recognizes which subject you are comparing to mathematics. The data analysis followed the steps of phenomenographic research approach.

Expected Outcomes

The feeling of enjoyment was a crucial factor in the students’ opinions of a dreamful mathematics lesson. Two main categories for the feeling of enjoyment were the students’ autonomy and collaboration. Students mentioned that autonomy for guiding their learning process e.g. in deciding the content and speed of doing, gives them the feeling of easygoing lessons which, in turn, improve learning. When learning takes place in teams or between the teams, enjoyment is increased because of the social nature of learning. In students experience mathematics lessons are something where one have to write notes, calculate and keep on learning all the time and fast. Normally in mathematics lessons students do numerous given tasks, sometimes computers are used, and at the end of lessons they get a lot of home work. Lessons were labeled with strict order and routines, students have to sit there alone, in silence, without moving and listen to a teacher to the point of getting bored. Still some students stated that in the mathematics lessons are planning, thinking and active doing. Regardless to the curricula’s constructivist aims of mathematics teaching the data shows that mathematics learning happens individually and strictly framed in the students point of view.

References

Eronen, L. & Haapasalo, L. 2011. Making mathematics through progressive technology. In B. Sriraman, C. Bergsten, S. Goodchild, G. Palsdottir, B. Dahl & L. Haapasalo (eds.) The first sourcebook on Nordic research in mathematics education. Information Age Publishing, 701–710. Furinghetti, F. & Pehkonen, E. 2002. Rethinking characterizations of belief. In G. Leder, E. Pehkonen & G. Torner (eds.) Beliefs: A hidden variable in mathematics education? Dordrecht: Kluwer, 39–57. Haapasalo, L. 2011. Learninf, Knowledge & problem solving. Joensuu: Medusa-Software. (In Finnish) Kloosterman, P. 2002. Beliefs about mathematics and mathematics learning in the secondary school: Measurement and implications for motivation. In G. Leder, E. Pehkonen & G. Torner (eds.) Beliefs: A hidden variable in mathematics education? Dordrecht: Kluwer, 247–269. Ministry of Education. 2012. Student performance in Finland at international top level. http://www.minedu.fi/OPM/Verkkouutiset/2012/12/pirls_timss.html?lang=en (Accessed 21.1.2013) Portaankorva-Koivisto, P. 2010. In search of lived experiences –a narrative research on the growth process of becoming a teacher of mathematics. Acta Universitatis Tamperensis 1550.(In Finnish) Portaankorva-Koivisto, P. & Silfverberg, H. 2012. Mathematics as school subject - lower secondary students' views of mathematics as they appear in their school subject comparisons. In Matematiikan ja luonnontieteiden opetuksen tutkimusseuran päivien julkaisu 2011. (In Finnish) Ravitz, J., Becker, H.J. & Wong, Y.-T. (2000). Constructivist-Compatible Beliefs and Practices among U.S. Teachers. Teaching, Learning and Computing: 1998 Survey. Report #4.http://www.crito.uci.edu./tlc/html/findings.html. (Accessed 21.1.2013)

Author Information

Lasse Eronen (presenting / submitting)

University of Eastern Finland, Finland

Päivi Portaankorva-Koivisto

University of Helsinki, Finland

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