Search results for "Mathematical discourse"
showing 5 items of 5 documents
Non-standard Problems in an Ordinary Differential Equations Course
2018
International audience; We report first results from a teaching intervention in an ordinary differential equations (ODEs) course for engineering students. Our aim is to challenge traditional approaches to teaching of Existence and Uniqueness Theorems (EUTs) through the design of problems that students cannot solve by applying well-rehearsed techniques or familiar methods. We analyse how the use of nonstandard problems contributes to the development of students' conceptual understanding of EUTs and ODEs.
An Analytical Scheme to Characterise the Mathematical Discourse of Biology Tasks
2021
The chapter describes an analytical scheme designed for investigating the mathematical discourse of biology tasks. The scheme was developed in the context of analysing tasks that are part of a fisheries management graduate-level course at a Norwegian university. Grounded in the commognitive perspective, the scheme focuses on the following aspects of the tasks: the mathematical content, its relation to biology discourse and students’ expected engagement with both discourses. To illustrate the potential of analysis, I present and justify the choice of the categories included in the scheme, exemplify its use on one specific task and discuss some of the limitations of this approach to task anal…
Qualities of mathematical discourses in kindergartens
2020
AbstractIn this study we investigated qualities of the mathematical discourse in four kindergarten classes in which kindergarten teachers and 5-year-old children engaged in mathematical learning activities. We analysed differences in the mathematical discourses in two experimental kindergarten classes and two control kindergarten classes, in a research and development project. The overarching research question guiding our study was as follows: what characterises the mathematical discourse unfolding in kindergarten classes? In our study we drew on the theoretical framework Mathematical Discourse in Instruction coined by Adler and Ronda, as we quantified the collected qualitative data. Our an…
Mathematical Modelling Problems in a Mathematics Course for Engineers: A Commognitive Perspective
2021
Mathematical knowledge is very important for engineers; both quantitative and qualitative analysis of physical systems and manufacturing processes require solid scientific principles and appropriate mathematical tools. Teaching of mathematical modelling at the university contributes to the development of mathematical competencies, motivates the interest to mathematics and plays a significant didactical role in promoting advanced mathematical thinking. These views are supported by the analysis of students’ work on a mathematical modelling assignment in a university mathematics course for future engineers with the help of the commognitive framework. Students’ narratives in written solutions a…
The constitution of the nature of mathematics in the lecturing practices of three university mathematics teachers
2015
International audience; The study reported in this paper investigates how notions of the nature of mathematical knowledge and mathematical objects are articulated in the discursive practices of three university mathematics teachers at a Swedish university. The data consists of video recorded lectures, and the analyses were informed by classifications presented by Lerman (1990) and Davis and Hersh (1981). The results indicate that different epistemological and ontological positions are indeed constituted through the discourse. Although the discourse is generally highly objectified, the ways in which mathematical objects are introduced differ. Mostly the discourse was within an ab-solutist pa…