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tandfonline.com – Investigating the diversity of scientific methods in high-stakes chemistry examinations in England

tandfonline.com har udgivet en rapport under søgningen “Teacher Education Mathematics”: ABSTRACT ABSTRACT The traditional description of “the scientific method” as a stepwise, linear process of hypothesis testing through experimentation is a myth. Although the teaching and learning of the scientific method have been a curriculum and assessment goal, the notion of the ‘scientific method’ itself has been identified as being problematic. Many researchers have recognised there is no single scientific method. However, there does not seem to be any useful guidelines for how best to deal with the nature of scientific methods in school science, including in high-stakes summative assessment. The article presents the use of a framework to illustrate the diversity of scientific methods that goes beyond the traditional limitations of a scientific method, to provide a more comprehensive… Continue Reading

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tandfonline.com – Investigating changes in high-stakes mathematics examinations: a discursive approach

tandfonline.com har udgivet en rapport under søgningen “Teacher Education Mathematics”: ABSTRACT ABSTRACT This article focuses on the theoretical-methodological question of how to identify reform-induced changes in school mathematics. The issue arose in our project The Evolution of the Discourse of School Mathematics (EDSM), in which we studied transformations in high-stakes examinations taken by students in England at the end of compulsory schooling. We have adopted a conceptualisation that draws on social semiotics and on a communicational approach, according to which school mathematics can be thought of as a discourse. Methods of comparing examinations of different years developed on the basis of this definition enable identification of subtle disparities that are nevertheless significant enough to make an important difference in students’ vision of mathematics, in their performance and, eventually, in their… Continue Reading

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tandfonline.com – Studying the role of human agency in school mathematics

tandfonline.com har udgivet en rapport under søgningen “Teacher Education Mathematics”: Abstract Mathematical discourse is often described as abstract and devoid of human presence, yet many school curricula espouse an aim to develop active, creative mathematical problem posers and solvers. The project The Evolution of the Discourse of School Mathematics(EDSM) developed an analytic scheme to investigate the nature of school mathematics discourse through the lens of high-stakes examinations in England. Following an overview of the scheme, this article ‘zooms in’ on the development of the sub-component addressing the question of how the origin of mathematical knowledge is construed, allowing investigation of the potential for students to see a role for themselves as active, creative agents in mathematical practices. Analytical tools operationalising this component are presented and their application illustrated. Results of… Continue Reading

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tandfonline.com – To what extent are students expected to participate in specialised mathematical discourse? Change over time in school mathematics in England

tandfonline.com har udgivet en rapport under søgningen “Teacher Education Mathematics”: ABSTRACT ABSTRACT From a discursive perspective, differences in the language in which mathematics questions are posed change the nature of the mathematics with which students are expected to engage. The project The Evolution of the Discourse of School Mathematics (EDSM) analysed the discourse of mathematics examination papers set in the UK between 1980 and 2011. In this article we address the issue of how students over this period have been expected to engage with the specialised discourse of school mathematics. We explain our analytic methods and present some outcomes of the analysis. We identify changes in engagement with algebraic manipulation, proving, relating mathematics to non-mathematical contexts and making connections between specialised mathematical objects. These changes are discussed in the light… Continue Reading