Abstract
This study concerns a professional development course designed and implemented for prospective teachers, centred on a teaching method regarding problem-solving activity, namely, the Thinking Classroom. The study is framed in the theory of cultural transposition, a perspective about the encounter with teaching practices from different cultural/school contexts. Cultural aspects are considered crucial and this encounter between cultures is seen as an opportunity for actors to become aware of their own unthoughts, i.e., some of the ‘invisible’ cultural beliefs about teaching and learning absorbed by their own culture. According to this framework, we present the results from a questionnaire given to all the participants, and two case studies of prospective teachers involved in the professional development, in order to discuss the kind of unthoughts on which they have focused in thinking about this training experience.
Highlights
How is the term ‘problem’ defined? In Chinese, it can be expressed with the ideogram 问题 [Wèntí] that means question, challenge, referring to the pleasure derived from this process
We wanted to see what kind of unthoughts on mathematical problem solving, absorbed in the past according to their different cultural/school contexts, they could realise due to participation in the professional development (PD), and by interacting with each other in the Thinking Classroom (TC) design/implementation
The aim of this study was to elucidate which kinds of unthoughts on problem solving prospective teachers (PTs) can develop within a PD framed in the Cultural Transposition perspective (Mellone et al, 2018, 2020) and involving the TC (Liljedahl 2016, 2020)
Summary
In Chinese, it can be expressed with the ideogram 问题 [Wèntí] that means question, challenge, referring to the pleasure derived from this process. In the Western part of the world, this word is often understood to indicate difficulty. Many different nuances of meanings and feelings associated with the idea of problem solving, as well as different strategies and representations used by students to solve mathematical problems, are dispersed through different countries and cultures (e.g., Cai, 2004). Some scholars have started to examine how students’ ideas and attitudes—meant as a mix of emotions, beliefs, and perceived competences on mathematical problem—are related to the lived school experience (e.g., Di Martino, 2019). Empirical findings indicate that these factors can strongly influence students’ approaches to problem solving (Di Martino & Zan, 2011).
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