Examination arrangement

Course content

The course gives deeper insight into mathematics education research literature in the following three areas:

• Inclusive mathematics education (for example, affective aspects of mathematics and mathematics teaching, equity in mathematics, critical mathematics education, teaching and learning mathematics in multilingual classrooms, …)
• Resources for teaching mathematics and ICT in mathematics education
• Historical and philosophical aspects of mathematics.

In addition, students will individually study a self-selected topic which extends their knowledge related to their master thesis.

The student will, through the work in this course, develop his or her ability to make, and argue for, choices in their mathematics teaching, and further develop their competence in observing and analysing learning and teaching of mathematics in the school.

Learning outcome

Knowledge

The student has

• a broad spectrum of knowledge about contemporary research results in the field of inclusive mathematics education,
• thorough knowledge regarding the Resources Approach in mathematics education and the role of books, classroom materials and other resources for teaching mathematics etc.
• advanced knowledge about the ICT as a mediating tool in mathematics education and how to exploit ICT in order to construct mathematical meanings and in the development of computational and algorithmic thinking,
• thorough knowledge of mathematics as a subject with a long historical development, both as a scientific subject and as an academic subject with special emphasis on algebra and geometry.

Skills

The student can

• plan, design, analyse and discuss teaching activities within the perspective of inclusive mathematics education in order to orchestrate classroom dynamics and argumentation,
• refer to specific resources to organize his/her own classroom activities and plan and design domain-specific tasks (for example conceptualisation of algebra, geometry, computational/algorithmic thinking etc.) within the mediator role of ICT tools,
• plan, design, carry out and analyse teaching activities involving historical aspects of mathematics in grades 5.-10, and can understand specific algorithms that are no longer in common use.

General competence

The student can

• refer to existing literature and by designing teaching-learning activities s/he can contribute to the development of school mathematics for grades 5 to 10 within the lens of inclusive mathematics education, resources, historical and philosophical aspects of mathematics and the use of ICT tools.
• independently research, analyse, synthesize and reflect on mathematics education as a scientific discipline.

Learning methods and activities

The teaching and learning methods will alternate between lectures, literature studies, work on assignments (individually and groups), discussions, as well as oral students’ presentations. Academic discussions and interactions are important ways of working and learning, and it is expected that the candidates actively contribute to such activities. The teaching can be in English.

Compulsory assignments

• Mandatory work requirement according to the course description

Further on evaluation

Mandatory assignments:

• Group oral presentation
• Individual written assignment (thesis related)
• Up to 8 written assignments, the number is specified at the start of study

The group oral presentation and the individual written assignment (thesis-related) are compulsory and have to be approved, the rest of the assignments will be evaluated as approved or not approved, and at least 75 % of these must be approved before the student can take the exam.

Exam:

Written school exam (6 hours). The exam is assessed with letter grades A to F.

Aids: PC with specified software and websites. Permitted software and websites will be given at the start of the semester.

Specific conditions

Recommended previous knowledge

Passed 30 credits at master's level in mathematics in the fourth year of primary school education or equivalent.

Required previous knowledge

Passed Mathematics 1 and Mathematics 2 (total of 60 credits) or equivalent.

Course materials

The course material is mainly scientific papers written in English. The final reading list will be published on Blackboard at the beginning of the semester. It can also be found on Innsida.

Credit reductions