Some Specific Features of the Educational Learning Context – An Outlook on Secondary Mathematics

Abstract

Educational learning seen as an individual process which is carried out, though, in a social context, is determined by the multitude of variables specific to the didactic situation.Starting with the results obtained by pupils in National Assessments in Mathematics, which clearly aren’t encouraging, we decided to study the existing relationships between different dimensions of the didactic situation and the performance levels reached by pupils in mathematics learning. The goal of the inquiry was to identify the factors with considerable impact on the learning process such as, specific features of the didactic contract, the mathematics teacher's attitude towards the learning errors and the didactic strategy elements. For this purpose, to collect data, we resorted to the school documents’ analysis (inspection reports) and the inquiry based on the questionnaire applied to the pupils.The results have shown that there are some didactic practices of the mathematics teacher with negatively impact on the learning process. More than the others, the mathematics teacher is more oriented to the subject taught than to the learning process itself.Recognizing these situations, which can be expressed in an explicit or an implicit manner, is the first step in making the mathematics learning process more efficient.