Mukuka Angel, Balimuttajjo Sudi, Mutarutinya Vedaste
Department of Mathematics, Science, and Technology Education, Mukuba University, Kitwe, Zambia.
Department of Educational Foundations and Psychology, Mbarara University of Science & Technology, Uganda.
Heliyon. 2023 Mar 23;9(4):e14789. doi: 10.1016/j.heliyon.2023.e14789. eCollection 2023 Apr.
Research shows that improved mathematical reasoning results in improved conceptual understanding and the application of mathematical knowledge to a variety of real-world contexts. The assessment of teacher efforts to help students develop their mathematical reasoning, however, and the identification of classroom practices that encourage this growth have received less attention in previous studies. A descriptive survey was conducted with 62 mathematics teachers from six randomly chosen public secondary schools in one district. Lesson observations were carried out in six randomly selected grade 11 classrooms from all participating schools to supplement teachers' questionnaire replies. Results show that more than 53% of the teachers believed that they had been making enormous efforts towards the development of students' mathematical reasoning skills. Nonetheless, some teachers were not found to be as supportive of students' mathematical reasoning as they believed they were. Additionally, the teachers did not leverage all of the opportunities that arose during instruction to support students' mathematical reasoning. These results show the need for greater professional development opportunities geared towards orienting both in-service and prospective teachers on useful teaching strategies for fostering students' mathematical reasoning.
研究表明，数学推理能力的提高会带来概念理解的提升，以及数学知识在各种现实情境中的应用。然而，以往的研究较少关注对教师帮助学生发展数学推理能力所做努力的评估，以及对鼓励这种能力增长的课堂实践的识别。对一个地区六所随机选取的公立中学的62名数学教师进行了一项描述性调查。在所有参与学校中随机挑选了六个十一年级教室进行课堂观察，以补充教师对问卷的答复。结果显示，超过53%的教师认为他们一直在为培养学生的数学推理能力付出巨大努力。尽管如此，一些教师对学生数学推理的支持程度并没有他们自己认为的那么高。此外，教师们没有充分利用教学过程中出现的所有机会来支持学生的数学推理。这些结果表明，需要有更多的专业发展机会，以便为在职教师和未来教师提供有关培养学生数学推理能力的有效教学策略的指导。
