Ana Paula Canavarro

Teachers' and students' views and attitudes towards a new mathematics curriculum: A case study

The education system in Portugal is in the midst of a period of intensive reform. This paper describes the findings of a qualitative case study focusing on the views and attitudes of teachers and students participating in a pilot curriculum development programme stressing active methodologies and group work, conducted by the Ministry of Education. In particular it discusses their views and attitudes about mathematics, mathematics teaching and curriculum innovation. The teachers were found to struggle with a contradiction: whilst they approved the new orientations, which were seen as adequate and innovative, they complained strongly about the design and implementation of the programme — Students had a generally positive attitude towards mathematics, although there were differences among them. The 7th graders were satisfied with their mathematics classes and with the new curriculum. The 10th graders did not consider the changes as significant in themselves, but expressed concern for their academic progress.

Inquiry-Based Mathematics Teaching: The Case of Célia

This chapter discusses the instructional practice of a primary school teacher. It is based on a framework that we developed in the project “Professional Practices of Mathematics Teachers”, which relates the teacher’s intentions to her actions in an inquiry-based mathematics classroom. The framework covers the promotion of mathematics learning as well as the class management. It details the instructional actions of the teacher in terms of the launching of the mathematical task to the students, the support of the students’ work, the orchestration of the discussion of the task and the systematization of the mathematical learning process.