Teachers' reflection on PISA items and why they are so hard for students in Serbia
Abstract
The study explores how teachers perceive and go about students' thinking in connection to particular mathematical content and how they frame the notion of applied mathematics in their own classrooms. Teachers' narratives are built around two released PISA 2012 mathematics items, the 'Drip rate' and 'Climbing Mount Fuji' (will be referred to as the Fuji item). Teachers show concordance as to the reasons that could make either of the items difficult for students and are able to provide more examples justifying their reasoning for the 'Fuji' item. Suggestions linked to making the items more familiar to the students mostly relate to de-contextualization of the items' content towards a more formal mathematical record. The teachers agree that students need only basic mathematical knowledge, at a level learned during elementary school, in order to solve these problems. Yet, at the same time, many teachers have difficulty clearly verbalising which procedures students are expected to follow to ...be able to solve the tasks. Disagreement among the teachers is noticeable when labelling the most difficult part(s) of each of the selected items. Mathematics teachers show openness for learning on how to create math problems we examined in this study, but question the purpose and meaning in incorporating more such problems in their own teaching.
Keywords:
Teachers' narratives / PISA / Mathematics / Mathematics instructionSource:
European Journal of Psychology of Education, 2018, 33, 3, 445-466Publisher:
- Springer, New York
Funding / projects:
DOI: 10.1007/s10212-018-0366-0
ISSN: 0256-2928
WoS: 000434850900003
Scopus: 2-s2.0-85041913146
Institution/Community
Psihologija / PsychologyTY - JOUR AU - Radišić, Jelena AU - Baucal, Aleksandar PY - 2018 UR - http://reff.f.bg.ac.rs/handle/123456789/2663 AB - The study explores how teachers perceive and go about students' thinking in connection to particular mathematical content and how they frame the notion of applied mathematics in their own classrooms. Teachers' narratives are built around two released PISA 2012 mathematics items, the 'Drip rate' and 'Climbing Mount Fuji' (will be referred to as the Fuji item). Teachers show concordance as to the reasons that could make either of the items difficult for students and are able to provide more examples justifying their reasoning for the 'Fuji' item. Suggestions linked to making the items more familiar to the students mostly relate to de-contextualization of the items' content towards a more formal mathematical record. The teachers agree that students need only basic mathematical knowledge, at a level learned during elementary school, in order to solve these problems. Yet, at the same time, many teachers have difficulty clearly verbalising which procedures students are expected to follow to be able to solve the tasks. Disagreement among the teachers is noticeable when labelling the most difficult part(s) of each of the selected items. Mathematics teachers show openness for learning on how to create math problems we examined in this study, but question the purpose and meaning in incorporating more such problems in their own teaching. PB - Springer, New York T2 - European Journal of Psychology of Education T1 - Teachers' reflection on PISA items and why they are so hard for students in Serbia EP - 466 IS - 3 SP - 445 VL - 33 DO - 10.1007/s10212-018-0366-0 ER -
@article{ author = "Radišić, Jelena and Baucal, Aleksandar", year = "2018", abstract = "The study explores how teachers perceive and go about students' thinking in connection to particular mathematical content and how they frame the notion of applied mathematics in their own classrooms. Teachers' narratives are built around two released PISA 2012 mathematics items, the 'Drip rate' and 'Climbing Mount Fuji' (will be referred to as the Fuji item). Teachers show concordance as to the reasons that could make either of the items difficult for students and are able to provide more examples justifying their reasoning for the 'Fuji' item. Suggestions linked to making the items more familiar to the students mostly relate to de-contextualization of the items' content towards a more formal mathematical record. The teachers agree that students need only basic mathematical knowledge, at a level learned during elementary school, in order to solve these problems. Yet, at the same time, many teachers have difficulty clearly verbalising which procedures students are expected to follow to be able to solve the tasks. Disagreement among the teachers is noticeable when labelling the most difficult part(s) of each of the selected items. Mathematics teachers show openness for learning on how to create math problems we examined in this study, but question the purpose and meaning in incorporating more such problems in their own teaching.", publisher = "Springer, New York", journal = "European Journal of Psychology of Education", title = "Teachers' reflection on PISA items and why they are so hard for students in Serbia", pages = "466-445", number = "3", volume = "33", doi = "10.1007/s10212-018-0366-0" }
Radišić, J.,& Baucal, A.. (2018). Teachers' reflection on PISA items and why they are so hard for students in Serbia. in European Journal of Psychology of Education Springer, New York., 33(3), 445-466. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10212-018-0366-0
Radišić J, Baucal A. Teachers' reflection on PISA items and why they are so hard for students in Serbia. in European Journal of Psychology of Education. 2018;33(3):445-466. doi:10.1007/s10212-018-0366-0 .
Radišić, Jelena, Baucal, Aleksandar, "Teachers' reflection on PISA items and why they are so hard for students in Serbia" in European Journal of Psychology of Education, 33, no. 3 (2018):445-466, https://doi.org/10.1007/s10212-018-0366-0 . .