Unlocking the learning potential of incarcerated Indigenous and low SES young people; Mathematics outcomes for future success: a discussion paper

This presentation provides a beginning discussion about what the literature reports about incarcerated young people. Incarcerated Indigenous and low SES young people typically have very low literacy and mathematics skills which precludes them from future education and or employment opportunities, thus continuing the cycle of disadvantage, exclusion and despair(Payne, 2007). Being locked out of learning, they are stuck in a cycle of underachievement, a scenario which contributes to unacceptably high levels of recidivism(ACER, 2014). Success at education is considered an important protective factor against delinquent behaviours such as offending, substance abuse and truancy. Youth education and training centres provide educational opportunities for the incarcerated Indigenous youth but achievement continues to be lower than expected, particularly in mathematics. This presentation provides an introductory literature review focusing on incarcerated young people and education. It is also the preliminary writing for a small pilot project currently being conducted in one Youth Education and Training Centre in Australia.

Preparing engineering graduates for the knowledge economy through blended delivery of mathematics

Contemporary higher education institutions are making significant efforts to develop cohesive, meaningful and effective learning experiences for Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) curricula to prepare graduates for challenges in the modern knowledge economy, thus enhancing their employability (Carnevale et al, 2011). This can inspire innovative redesign of learning experiences embedded in technology-enhanced educational environments and the development of research-informed, pedagogically reliable strategies fostering interactions between various agents of the learning-teaching process. This paper reports on the results of a project aimed at enhancing students’ learning experiences by redesigning a large, first year mathematics unit for Engineering students at a large metropolitan public university. Within the project, the current study investigates the effectiveness of selected, technology-mediated pedagogical approaches used over three semesters. Grounded in user-centred instructional design, the pedagogical approaches explored the opportunities for learning created by designing an environment containing technological, social and educational affordances. A qualitative analysis of mixed-type questionnaires distributed to students indicated important inter-relations between participants’ frames of references of the learning-teaching process and stressed the importance (and difficulty) of creating appropriate functional context. Conclusions drawn from this study may inform instructional design for blended delivery of STEM-focused programs that endeavor to enhance students’ employability by educating work-ready graduates.

Mathematics knowledge for teaching and the classroom environment

This study investigated the classroom environment in an underperforming mathematics classroom. The objectives were: (1) to investigate the classroom environment and identify influences upon it, and (2) to further explore those influences (i.e., teacher knowledge). This was completed using a diachronic case study approach in which data were gathered during lesson observations and coaching sessions. These data were analysed to describe and exemplify the classroom environment, then further described against forms of teacher knowledge. Conjectures regarding the importance of teacher knowledge of content were made which formed a base for developing a model of teacher planning and pedagogy.

STEM: Challenges and opportunities for mathematics education

Climbing Mountains, Building Bridges is a rich theme for exploring some of the “challenges, obstacles, links, and connections” facing mathematics education within the current STEM climate (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics). This paper first considers some of the issues and debates surrounding the nature of STEM education, including perspectives on its interdisciplinary nature. It is next argued that mathematics is in danger of being overshadowed, in particular by science, in the global urgency to advance STEM competencies in schools and the workforce. Some suggestions are offered for lifting the profile of mathematics education within an integrated STEM context, with examples drawn from modelling with data in the sixth grade.

Changing agendas in international research in mathematics education

Handbooks serve an important function for our research community in providing state-of-the-art summations, critiques, and extensions of existing trends in research. In the intervening years between the second and third editions of the Handbook of International Research in Mathematics Education, there have been stimulating developments in research, as well as new challenges in translating outcomes into practice. This third edition incorporates a number of new chapters representing areas of growth and challenge, in addition to substantially updated chapters from the second edition. As such, the Handbook addresses five core themes, namely, Priorities in International Mathematics Education Research, Democratic Access to Mathematics Learning, Transformations in Learning Contexts, Advances in Research Methodologies, and Influences of Advanced Technologies...

Problem solving in a 21st century mathematics curriculum

Research on problem solving in the mathematics curriculum has spanned many decades, yielding pendulum-like swings in recommendations on various issues. Ongoing debates concern the effectiveness of teaching general strategies and heuristics, the role of mathematical content (as the means versus the learning goal of problem solving), the role of context, and the proper emphasis on the social and affective dimensions of problem solving (e.g., Lesh & Zawojewski, 2007; Lester, 2013; Lester & Kehle, 2003; Schoenfeld, 1985, 2008; Silver, 1985). Various scholarly perspectives—including cognitive and behavioral science, neuroscience, the discipline of mathematics, educational philosophy, and sociocultural stances—have informed these debates, often generating divergent resolutions. Perhaps due to this uncertainty, educators’ efforts over the years to improve students’ mathematical problem-solving skills have had disappointing results. Qualitative and quantitative studies consistently reveal mathematics students’ struggles to solve problems more significant than routine exercises (OECD, 2014; Boaler, 2009)...

Investigating the effectiveness of an ecological approach to learning design in a first year mathematics for engineering unit

This is presentation of the refereed paper accepted for the Conferences' proceedings. The presentation was given on Tuesday, 1 December 2015.

Mathematics, programming, and STEM

Learning mathematics is a complex and dynamic process. In this paper, the authors adopt a semiotic framework (Yeh & Nason, 2004) and highlight programming as one of the main aspects of the semiosis or meaning-making for the learning of mathematics. During a 10-week teaching experiment, mathematical meaning-making was enriched when primary students wrote Logo programs to create 3D virtual worlds. The analysis of results found deep learning in mathematics, as well as in technology and engineering areas. This prompted a rethinking about the nature of learning mathematics and a need to employ and examine a more holistic learning approach for the learning in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) areas.

Tutoring with higher mathematics and the use of technology

We discuss three approaches to the use of technology as a teaching and learning tool that we are currently implementing for a target group of about one hundred second level engineering mathematics students. Central to these approaches is the underlying theme of motivating relatively poorly motivated students to learn, with the aim of improving learning outcomes. The approaches to be discussed have been used to replace, in part, more traditional mathematics tutorial sessions and lecture presentations. In brief, the first approach involves the application of constructivist thinking in the tertiary education arena, using technology as a computational and visual tool to create motivational knowledge conflicts or crises. The central idea is to model a realistic process of how scientific theory is actually developed, as proposed by Kuhn (1962), in contrast to more standard lecture and tutorial presentations. The second approach involves replacing procedural or algorithmic pencil-and-paper skills-consolidation exercises by software based tasks. Finally, the third approach aims at creating opportunities for higher order thinking via "on-line" exploratory or discovery mode tasks. The latter incorporates the incubation period method, as originally discussed by Rubinstein (1975) and others.

Politics, Power, PISA: a genealogy of mathematics education policy at second level in Ireland at the beginning of the 21st century

This thesis traces a genealogy of the discourse of mathematics education reform in Ireland at the beginning of the twenty first century at a time when the hegemonic political discourse is that of neoliberalism. It draws on the work of Michel Foucault to identify the network of power relations involved in the development of a single case of curriculum reform – in this case Project Maths. It identifies the construction of an apparatus within the fields of politics, economics and education, the elements of which include institutions like the OECD and the Government, the bureaucracy, expert groups and special interest groups, the media, the school, the State, state assessment and international assessment. Five major themes in educational reform emerge from the analysis: the arrival of neoliberal governance in Ireland; the triumph of human capital theory as the hegemonic educational philosophy here; the dominant role of OECD/PISA and its values in the mathematics education discourse in Ireland; the fetishisation of western scientific knowledge and knowledge as commodity; and the formation of a new kind of subjectivity, namely the subjectivity of the young person as a form of human-capital-to-be. In particular, it provides a critical analysis of the influence of OECD/PISA on the development of mathematics education policy here – especially on Project Maths curriculum, assessment and pedagogy. It unpacks the arguments in favour of curriculum change and lays bare their ideological foundations. This discourse contextualises educational change as occurring within a rapidly changing economic environment where the concept of the State’s economic aspirations and developments in science, technology and communications are reshaping both the focus of business and the demands being put on education. Within this discourse, education is to be repurposed and its consequences measured against the paradigm of the Knowledge Economy – usually characterised as the inevitable or necessary future of a carefully defined present.

Literacy Content and Core Practices: Teacher Educator Pedagogy as the Bridge Between Knowing and Doing

Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of Washington, 2016-04

Understanding technology integration in secondary mathematics: Theorising the role of the teacher

Previous research on computers and graphics calculators in mathematics education has examined effects on curriculum content and students’ mathematical achievement and attitudes while less attention has been given to the relationship between technology use and issues of pedagogy, in particular the impact on teachers’ professional learning in specific classroom and school environments. This observation is critical in the current context of educational policy making, where it is assumed – often incorrectly – that supplying schools with hardware and software will increase teachers’ use of technology and encourage more innovative teaching approaches. This paper reports on a research program that aimed to develop better understanding of how and under what conditions Australian secondary school mathematics teachers learn to effectively integrate technology into their practice. The research adapted Valsiner’s concepts of the Zone of Proximal Development, Zone of Free Movement and Zone of Promoted Action to devise a theoretical framework for analysing relationships between factors influencing teachers’ use of technology in mathematics classrooms. This paper illustrates how the framework may be used by analysing case studies of a novice teacher and an experienced teacher in different school settings.

Today's pupils tomorrow's engineers! Pedagogy and policy:a UK perspective

Purpose – This paper aims to provide a critical analysis of UK Government policy in respect of recent moves to attract young people into engineering. Drawing together UK and EU policy literature, the paper considers why young people fail to look at engineering positively. Design/methodology/approach – Drawing together UK policy, practitioner and academic-related literature the paper critically considers the various factors influencing young people's decision-making processes in respect of entering the engineering profession. A conceptual framework providing a diagrammatic representation of the “push” and “pull” factors impacting young people at pre-university level is given. Findings – The discussion argues that higher education in general has a responsibility to assist young people overcome negative stereotypical views in respect of engineering education. Universities are in the business of building human capability ethically and sustainably. As such they hold a duty of care towards the next generation. From an engineering education perspective, the major challenge is to present a relevant and sustainable learning experience that will equip students with the necessary skills and competencies for a lifelong career in engineering. This may be achieved by promoting transferable skills and competencies or by the introduction of a capabilities-driven curriculum which brings together generic and engineering skills and abilities. Social implications – In identifying the push/pull factors impacting young people's decisions to study engineering, this paper considers why, at a time of global recession, young people should select to study the required subjects of mathematics, science and technology necessary to study for a degree in engineering. The paper identifies the long-term social benefits of increasing the number of young people studying engineering. Originality/value – In bringing together pedagogy and policy within an engineering framework, the paper adds to current debates in engineering education providing a distinctive look at what seems to be a recurring problem – the failure to attract young people into engineering.

Self-Identified Capabilities and Experiences with Mathematics of Adults Who Have Taken a Developmental Algebra Course

Some were born to do math, some persevered past fearful environments, while others withdrew. In this qualitative study, adults describe life with algebra and the meaning they sought. For all, pedagogy was critical, either positively or negatively; and all found salvation in intervention.