EDU2421 Mathematics Education 2: Reflection, Decision Making and Pedagogy (FOEDU)

Semester 1 (ONC)Toowoomba (ONC)Fraser Cst

Units 1.0 (Curriculum Studies) Band 5

State law in Queensland (Australia) requires that all adults working/undertaking professional experience/researching with children under the age of 18, in the state of Queensland are required to possess a current suitability card (Blue Card). (See "Other Requirements" for further information.) Also see: http://www.childcomm.qld.gov.au/employment/bluecard/informationSheets.html.

Synopsis

The course assists pre-service teachers to develop their own personal, practical theories about teaching mathematics in the primary years of schooling. As part of this approach, the course presents small slices on video of teacher-learner interaction related to numeracy tasks, episodes that expose some of the common mis-understandings and mis-conceptions of primary students. Each video episode also illustrates the approach adopted by the novice teacher to overcoming the learning difficulty of the child and that adopted by the teacher educator in keeping with current research and thinking in the area. These then become the focus of attention of pre-service teachers. They are invited to consider ways of dealing with various aspects of the problems presented by the children. The visual presentation of these problems and solutions adds considerable impact to their pedagogic merit. An important aspect of this course is to develop students' understandings and appreciations of mathematical concepts, while at the same time assisting pre-service teachers to grow in their personal, practical theories about teaching mathematics. Emphasis throughout the course will be in establishing links between key mathematical concepts which are important in the primary mathematics curriculum. Content will include: the history and development of natural numbers and of ways of representing them; one-to-one correspondence; cardinal and ordinal aspects of natural numbers and associated linguistic forms; the set of natural numbers and subsets; operations on natural numbers; solving arithmetic word problems by counting up, counting down, and other common strategies; the change, combine, compare and equalisation models of addition and subtraction of natural numbers; simple equations; different models of multiplication and division; commutative, associative, identity, distributive properties for addition and multiplication of natural numbers; written and mental algorithms for the four operations on natural numbers; rational numbers; historical development of the concept of "zero," of fraction concepts, and of representations of these concepts; vulgar and decimal representations of fractions; percentages; introduction to, and application of, the principles of induction and deduction. Segments of video of teacher-learner interaction related to numeracy tasks will be presented. The various episodes have been selected to expose some common misunderstanding and misconceptions shown by primary school students. Each episode also illustrates the approach adopted by a novice teacher to overcome the learning difficulty. Discussion and reflection on these episodes is supported through a framework of current research. Visual presentation of classroom situations and possible ways of approaching them adds impact to the underlying mathematical concepts and pedagogy.