Using the history of mathematics to induce changes in preservice teachers’ beliefs and attitudes: insights from evaluating a teacher education program

Scholars and teacher educators alike agree that teachers’ beliefs and attitudes toward mathematics are key informants of teachers’ instructional approaches. Therefore, it has become clear that, in addition to enriching preservice teachers’ (PSTs) knowledge, teacher education programs should also create opportunities for prospective teachers to develop productive beliefs and attitudes toward teaching and learning mathematics. This study explored the effectiveness of a mathematics preparatory program based on the history of mathematics that aimed at enhancing PSTs’ epistemological and efficacy beliefs and their attitudes toward mathematics. Using data from a questionnaire administered four times, the study traced the development of 94 PSTs’ beliefs and attitudes over a period of 2 years. The analysis of these data showed changes in certain dimensions of the PSTs’ beliefs and attitudes; however, other dimensions were found to change in the opposite direction to that expected. Differences were also found in the development of the PSTs’ beliefs and attitudes according to their mathematical background. The data yielded from semi-structured follow-up interviews conducted with a convenience sample of PSTs largely corroborated the quantitative data and helped explain some of these changes. We discuss the effectiveness of the program considered herein and draw implications for the design of teacher education programs grounded in the history of mathematics.

Reflection on teaching and epistemological structure: reflective and critically reflective processes in ‘pure/soft’ and ‘pure/hard’ fields

We empirically explored whether academics from pure/soft and pure/hard fields engage in reflective practice on teaching differently and, if so, whether these differences could be partially explained by the epistemological structure of their discipline. Interview data from academics in pure/hard (N = 30) and pure/soft fields (N = 10) were deductively analyzed according to different types and domains of reflection as well as the nature of learning underlying these reflections. The greatest differences between the two groups were found with respect to reflection on core beliefs as well as within the domain of educational goals and purposes, both being more common in soft fields. Soft and hard fields engaged in instrumental, communicative as well as emancipatory learning about teaching but to different degrees. We propose that teaching expertise requires a disposition to engage in reflection on core beliefs, particularly but not exclusively within the domain of goals and purposes, the latter involving both communicative and emancipatory learning. The theoretical and practical implications of the study are discussed.

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Carolin KreberEmail:

     

Distinguishing between knowledge and beliefs: students’ epistemic criteria for differentiating

“I believe that he/she is telling the truth”, “I know about the solar system”: what epistemic criteria do students use to distinguish between knowledge and beliefs? If knowing and believing are conceptually distinguishable, do students of different grade levels use the same criteria to differentiate the two constructs? How do students understand the relationship between the two constructs? This study involved 219 students (116 girls and 103 boys); 114 were in 8th grade and 105 in 13th grade. Students had to (a) choose which of 5 graphic representations outlined better the relationship between the two constructs and to justify their choice; (b) rate a list of factual/validated, non-factual/non-validated and ambiguous statements as either knowledge or belief, and indicate for each statement their degree of truthfulness, acceptance and on which sources their views were based. Qualitative and quantitative analysis were performed. The data showed how students distinguish knowledge from belief conceptually and justify their understanding of the relationship between the two constructs. Although most students assigned a higher epistemic status to knowledge, school grade significantly differentiated the epistemic criteria used to distinguish the two constructs. The study indicates the educational importance of considering the notions of knowledge and belief that students bring into the learning situation.     

高校发展规划实施的若干思考

我国高校发展规划的编制缺乏动力与科学性,规划的实施缺乏必要的组织支持,没有监控机制,有待制度创新。判断一个规划是否有实施准备,可以先考查其是否切实进行了自我宣传、资源争取、发展谋划等前期工作,然后考查其是否进行了反思、是否有资源配置,是否设定了评估指标与保障机制。没有评估指标与信息反馈系统的开环型规划难以运行,有评估指标与保障机制的闭环型规划才具备可实施性。我国高校发展规划的实施应实行在党委领导下的校长负责制,在现代大学制度下,接受董事会监督,并与高校评估相结合。     

Revealing Students’ Ethical Awareness during Problem Framing

Expert designers determine what problem needs to be solved by creating a frame that allows the identification of potential solutions. However, it is unclear how students learn to generate these frames effectively, particularly in relation to ethical decision‐making and selecting appropriate constraints. In this study, undergraduate and graduate industrial design students at a large Midwestern United States university participated in a one‐day workshop that focused on designing products for natives of sub‐Saharan Africa to sell in their home nations. Participants (n=100) worked in 21 teams to generate a range of constraints and problem statements while being scaffolded by instructions, research materials and worksheets. Teams struggled to identify specific use contexts and users, even though these elements were present in relatively complex form in provided research materials. Students appeared to build distance between their own experiences and that of users they were designing for, leading to little awareness of the ethical and normative commitments that were reified in their problem statements and solutions. Implications for the explicit development of an ethically aware design character in design education are considered.     

Framing of a Brazilian Crisis: Dilma Rousseff’s Impeachment in National and International Editorials

The study analyzes the editorial position of the Brazilian and foreign press in the coverage of Dilma Rousseff’s impeachment trial. By a framing analysis, we aim to understand how the national quality newspapers such as Folha de S. Paulo, O Estado de S. Paulo, O Globo, and the international ones as Público, El País, The Guardian, Le Monde and The New York Times organize the events and construct the respective political narratives, verifying the similarities and differences in the interpretation of the political crisis that led to the removal of the first female president of Brazil.     

Media discourse and perception of game regulatory issues

This study examines how the issue of game regulation has been discussed and influenced public perception by exploring ideologically differing media outlets’ distinct uses of frames by analyzing news contents (N = 1,217) and public opinion survey of the national sample of Korean gamers (N = 1,362), who play games currently. The analyses include the influence of media on attitudes toward game regulation, perception of games, and frame adoption, based on the results of news content analysis. The study found that (a) mainstream media was ambivalent about game issues and tended to define gaming and gamers in sensationalistic ways; (b) while the dynamics of media effects on public attitudes toward game regulation are complex, exposure to game-related news content significantly impacted public attitudes; mass media that highlight the negative aspects of games have strong impacts on public perception toward games, which may ultimately affect attitudes toward game regulation.     

How to play the game of intellectual property rights in China: the impact of party affiliation and media location on the use of media frames

This paper explores the dynamic between media and social-political forces through a content analysis of Chinese media coverage of intellectual property rights (IPRs) since China's accession to the World Trade Organization in 2001. We examined how media attributes, such as party affiliation and media location, have influenced the use of media frames. Three media frames were extracted from previous studies: (1) national interest; (2) cost and benefit; and (3) legal/contractual. Our results demonstrate that both media attributes exert significant influence on the use of media frames in IPRs coverage: the closer a news organization is affiliated with the Chinese Communist Party, the more likely it would adopt a national interest frame. Moreover, national press and party newspapers are more likely to adopt the national interest frame in covering IPRs-related issues; whereas, regional/popular and professional press are more likely to report the IPRs-related issues from economic and legal perspectives.     

Framing the crisis by one's seat: a comparative study of newspaper frames of the Asiana crash in the USA,Korea, and China

This study compared newspaper frames of the 2013 Asiana Airlines crash in the three countries involved: the USA, Korea, and China. The results revealed distinct patterns of news coverage under the particular influence of national interests. The responsibility frame was the most frequently used, but the attribution of responsibility varied across the three countries. US newspapers overwhelmingly attributed the causation to pilot error, Korean media framed the causation as being open to multiple explanations, and Chinese newspapers were less likely to speculate about causation before the final official conclusion was reached. US and Korean media maintained a negative tone toward each other, while Chinese newspapers took a similar standpoint as the US media but were slightly less negative toward Korea. Further, divergence of news frames used across countries was associated with the different use of sources by different newspapers across countries. In particular, Korean media indicated reluctance to use US officials and a preference to cite alternative sources which offered diverse opinions regarding the attribution of responsibility. Finally, emotions of the crash stories varied by attributions of causation in Korean but not in the other countries’ news reports.     

Musical make-believe playing: three preschoolers collaboratively initiating play ‘in-between’

This study presents an analysis of a video observation of three six-year-olds interacting in front of a synthesizer in a Swedish preschool and using a new music technology (MIROR-Impro). It investigates how a musical role-play unfolds as an intermediate activity when there is a malfunction with the set-up of the technology and how it recommences when the technology is again functioning. The study is informed by a sociocultural perspective on playing and learning and analyses how the children communicate and negotiate in and about this activity. The analysis shows how they make use of this gap to develop mutual make-believe play and how they actualize and use some of their out-of-school experiences. How the children establish coordination into a joint activity and scaffold each other’s musical performance is also shown. The study relates to children’s music experiences in contemporary childhood and how early childhood music education can respond to these.