DG 2: The relationship between research and practice in mathematics education

Team Chairs

Luciana Bazzini, Department of Mathematics, University of Torino

Address: Via Carlo Alberto 10, I-10123 Torino, Italy

luciana.bazzini@unito.it

Ken(neth) Ruthven, Faculty of Education, University of Cambridge

Address: 17 Trumpington Street, Cambridge CB2 1QA, United Kingdom

kr18@hermes.cam.ac.uk

Team Members

Nuria Gorgorio, Faculty of Education Sciences, G-5, 142, The Autonomous University of Barcelona, Spain

nuria.gorgorio@uab.es

Kiril Bankov, Faculty of Mathematics and Informatics, University of Sofia, Bulgaria

kbankov@fmi.uni-sofia.bg

Cass(ius) Lubisi, Special Advisor to the Minister of Education, South Africa

Lubisi.c@doe.gov.za

Aims and Focus

This Discussion Group will examine relationships between educational research and professional practice in mathematics education.

Practical Information

This Discussion Group will met on three occasions, and will give particular attention to the content of one Plenary Lecture:

Monday 5 July, 16.30-18.30 [Discussion Group]

Tuesday 6 July, 08.30-10.00 [Plenary Lecture]

Wednesday 7 July, 16.30-18.30 [Discussion Group]

Saturday 10 July, 15.00-16.00 [Discussion Group]

For much of the discussion, participants will break down into groups of 6-10 people (with the possibility of organising particular groups to operate bilingually in English/another-language to facilitate participation of non-native English speakers). To assist the process of self-organising into such groups, each participant should bring a (roughly A4-sized) sign indicating their available languages (e.g. English, français).

Programme

Preliminary reading

Drawing on contrasting examples of researcher/teacher co-operation from several different countries, this paper examines many of the fundamental issues requiring discussion. It argues that coupling the creation of scholarly knowledge with the creation of craft knowledge makes possible approaches to teacher/researcher co-operation which can contribute to building a more powerful and systematic knowledge-base for the teaching and learning of mathematics.

Linking researching with teaching: Towards synergy of scholarly and craft knowledge

Monday 5 July, 16.30-18.30 [Discussion Group]

This session will commence with a welcome to the Discussion Group, and provision of information about working arrangements. Then participants will form small discussion groups to examine the following issues

Thinking of different types/examples of teacher/developer/researcher co-operation What kinds of motivations should guide such work?

What kinds of interaction between parties should such work involve?

How should such work build on existing research knowledge and on existing professional practice?

What are important factors affording and constraining such work?

More broadly, through this work, what should researchers learn from practitioners, and practitioners from researchers?

Should work of this type provide models, artefacts, or theories which could be more widely used?

How viable is such work as a means of improving professional practice?

What contribution should work of this type make to advancing mathematics education research?

Tuesday 6 July, 08.30-10.00 [Plenary Lecture]

“The relations between research and practice in mathematics education”: a report of the work of the ICME Survey Team, delivered by Anna Sfard University of Haifa, Israel

Wednesday 7 July, 16.30-18.30 [Discussion Group]

This session will focus on the earlier plenary lecture reporting on the work of the ICME Survey Team on ‘The relations between research and practice in mathematics education’. After a brief introduction offering some initial prompts for discussion, participants will form small discussion groups.

Saturday 10 July, 15.00-16.00 [Discussion Group]

This session will be organised as a paper discussion session, divided into two 30-minute subsessions. In each subsession, participants will have the opportunity to join a discussion of one of the submitted papers which are listed below and posted on the Discussion Group webpage (directly accessible at http://www.icme-organisers.dk/dg02/) on the conference website at www.icme-10.dk. To assist the process of self-organising into such groups, the author of each paper should bring a (roughly A4-sized) sign indicating their name and a short title for their paper (e.g. Penteado, Expanding the relationship).