Mathematics Teachers’ Inclusion of Modelling and Problem Posing in Their Mathematics Lessons: An Exploratory Questionnaire

Simone Passarella

doi:10.30935/scimath/10773

Abstract

In this paper the results of a questionnaire about mathematics teachers’ inclusion in their teaching of mathematical modelling and problem posing are presented. To make teachers able to choose a coherent teaching method for a mathematical topic, teachers’ knowledge of valuable methods for the teaching of mathematics should be fostered. In this sense, studying teachers’ practice of modelling and problem posing is crucial in order to know if and which kind of support and professional development they need on such educational strategies. The questionnaire was administrated to Italian in-service mathematics teachers of primary and secondary school. Findings indicate that despite teachers implement regularly some aspects of mathematical modelling in their lessons, they ask more materials to support their preparation and practice. Problem posing, instead, might be more integrated in the classroom work, and consequently in teachers’ professional development courses.

Highlights

In May 2018, The Council of European Union recommended for some key competencies for lifelong learning (2018/C189/01)
The questionnaire ended with an open question in which teachers could express some suggestions they believed indispensable to improve the teaching of mathematics
The results show that modelling is inserted by teachers in their school practice, in terms of real contexts as starting situations for mathematical activities and mathematical applications

Summary

Introduction

In May 2018, The Council of European Union recommended for some key competencies for lifelong learning (2018/C189/01) One of these competencies concerns mathematical competence, seen as the ability to develop and apply mathematical thinking and insight in order to solve a range of problems in everyday situations, with an emphasis on the process and activity, as well as knowledge. As a natural consequence these contexts must be rich (Freudenthal, 1991), in the sense that they promote a structuring process as a means of organizing phenomena, physical and mathematical, and even mathematics as a whole, i.e., contexts that give more opportunities in the mathematization process In this direction a fundamental educational tool is given by cultural artefacts (Bonotto, 2013) that, thanks to their complexity and

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Conclusion