Haneet Gandhi Department of Education University of Delhi

Issues in Mathematics Teacher Education

Outline of the Presentation

! Part A: Issues of the Mathematics teacher

programmes ! Part B: Examples of teachers mathematical Understanding ! Part C: Structure of Teacher Education Programmes in Delhi University

Mathematical knowledge for teaching?

! Mathematical Knowledge at college and

Mathematical Understanding for teaching. ! Mathematics of procedures versus Mathematical thinking, central to conceptual understanding. ! Belief towards the subject: mathematics to be taught/ mathematics to be evolved

! Understanding the subject ! Understanding the content ! Understanding the understanding of the

learner

! Issues of Elementary teachers: Understanding

elementary mathematics content, learners and their socio-cultural background ! Issues of secondary school teachers: bridging the content of primary with senior secondary mathematics, Understanding the mathematical thinking processes ! Issues of senior secondary level: teaching abstract concepts, bridging the content to real life application, preparing students for a professional/ academic life

Outline of the Presentation

! Part A: Issues of the Mathematics teacher

programmes ! Part B: Examples of teachers mathematical Understanding ! Part C: Structure of Teacher Education Programmes in Delhi University

Examples
I own a Bakery shop and each day I make several rectangular sheet cakes which needs to be cut into eights. To attract customers, I need to cut the cakes into eights different ways for each day. Can you suggest some of the different ways to cut the cake?

Post Activity
! How can we verify that pieces that are not the

same shape contain the same amount of cake? ! What factors should be considered when deciding whether the two designs are different?

Lets Think
! Opportunity to represent parts of a whole by

using area model of fractions. Negating the over-generalisation and believe that the pieces have to be congruent rather than have the same area. ! Value is not in determining the final right answer but rather is in the process and determining how different factors are relevant.

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! Represent 7/2 pictorially ! Which fractional part is greater? Explain your

answer

! Which of the following figures represent 2/3 of

the whole. Explain your choices

! If

represents one unit then represent 2/3 of this unit

To the following figure, four students responses are as stated below. Analyze each response to explicate the reasoning behind their responses.

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Outline of the Presentation

! Part A: Issues of the Mathematics teacher

programmes ! Part B: Examples of teachers mathematical Understanding ! Part C: Structure of Teacher Education Programmes in Delhi University

Pre-service Teacher programmes of Delhi University

! Bachelor of Elementary Education B.El.Ed ! Bachelor of Education: B.Ed ! Math A : Secondary School ! Math B : Senior Secondary School
! Math

C : Primary Level

Bachelor Elementary Education (B.El.Ed)

4 year Integrated course pursued after Class XII
Pedagogic Courses Liberal Options (Mathematics of tertiary level) Studied in Second and Third year Course: Mathematics of tertiary level

First year: Revisiting the mathematical content Third Year: Understanding the subject, Theories related to mathematics learning, understanding the learner and their (Mis)conceptions. Practicum : Identifying and collecting resources Fourth year: Focus is on understanding the concepts and nature of the subject at middle school. Practicum Part: School Internship Programme of 6 months divided across primary and middle school teaching

There is one symbol that we have in the base ten system that does not exist in the Egyptian system that is very important.
What is the symbol? Why is this symbol so important when writing numbers and adding and subtracting in the base ten?

Evolve a system of your own that has the following attributes a) Base 6 b) Positional value of symbols determine the numbers

While teaching triangles, a teacher noticed that students had difficulty understanding altitudes of a triangle. What pedagogic strategies would you suggest to the teacher?

B.Ed Maths A level

! Limitation of the course is its duration. ! Content understanding is ensured at the entry

level ! Pedagogy course

! Nature

of discipline ! Nature of learner ! Instead of content the focus is on the thinking processes: Algebraic thinking, Proportional Thinking and Geometrical Thinking ! Critically analysing the issues in evaluation

B.Ed Maths B
! Content understanding is assured at entry

level ! Challenge here is to help make students understand the exist level that is needed after schooling and this ranges from higher mathematics, vocational mathematics, professional or functional mathematics ! Thinking processes: Teaching of Calculus, Teaching of Stochastic, Teaching of Trigonometry