Jodie Hunter

Innovative and Powerful Pedagogical Practices in Mathematics Education

Powerful and innovative pedagogical practices are necessary for all students to learn mathematics successfully and equip them for the future. In this chapter, we review Australasian studies that provide evidence of pedagogical practices that support creative and flexible mathematical thinkers for the 21st century. The review is structured around three key themes that were evident in the research literature. The first theme is the need to develop innovative learning environments that benefit all learners. The second theme is centred on how both tasks and tools can be used to support powerful pedagogical practices. Finally, the third theme reviews the challenges of developing innovative mathematical learning environments. We argue for the need for effective pedagogy for all learners and a need for ambitious, future-focused teaching in mathematics education.

Developing Interactive Mathematical Talk: Investigating Student Perceptions and Accounts of Mathematical Reasoning in a Changing Classroom Context.

Abstract In recent years there has been an increased focus on the need for teachers to develop learning communities where all students have opportunities to engage in interactive discourse. However, there are few studies that focus on student perceptions and accounts of mathematical reasoning in classrooms with interactive mathematical talk as a focus of reform. A framework of teacher actions to develop classroom and mathematical practices was developed from classroom observations. Photo-elicitation interviews were used to investigate student perception and accounts of mathematical explanations and reasoning. The professional development programme, shifts in the teacher actions, and subsequent shifts in student perception and their recall of their own and peers’ mathematical reasoning over a school year are highlighted. Developing interactive dialogue in the classroom took considerable time and attention. Facilitating change to the way students both participated and understood their obligations required constant, ongoing attention to both the classroom and mathematical practices.

Scaffolding Teacher Practice to Develop Early Algebraic Reasoning

In recent years there has been an increased emphasis on algebraic reasoning in primary classrooms. This includes introducing students to the mathematical practices of making conjectures, justifying, and generalizing. Drawing on the findings from a classroom-based case study, this chapter provides an exemplar of how professional development can lead to shifts in teacher practice to develop a ‘conjecturing atmosphere’ in the classroom. The findings affirm the important role of the teacher in introducing student-related mathematical practices. Careful task design and enactment, teacher questioning, and noticing and responding to student reasoning were all key elements in facilitating students to make conjectures, justify, and generalize.

Challenging teachers’ perceptions of student capability through professional development: a telling case

ABSTRACT Teachers’ perceptions of students’ capabilities are particularly important in efforts to support ambitious instructional reforms. In this paper, we explore one teacher’s efforts to resolve conflicts and tensions as she engages with new practices associated with ambitious mathematics teaching. While many conflicts arose in the first year of the intervention, the teacher’s linear inquiry stance, focused on prescribed solutions rather than action and reflection on problems of practice, meant that deficit framings of students remained largely unchallenged. Supporting the development of an inquiry stance that problematises current structures and practices, and enables systematic exploration of conflicts, is key to challenging teachers’ perceptions.

Maintaining a Cultural Identity While Constructing a Mathematical Disposition as a Pāsifika Learner

Many Pāsifika students enter New Zealand schools fluent in their own language and with a rich background of knowledge and experiences. But, within a short period of schooling they join the disproportionately high numbers of Pāsifika students who are failing subjects such as mathematics within our current education system. The reasons are diverse but many can be attributed directly to the structural inequities they encounter which cause a disconnect (and dismissal) of their Indigenous cultural values, understandings, and experiences. In this chapter, we examine and explore the different practices which have marginalized Pāsifika students in our schools and more specifically in mathematics classrooms. We explain how some of the “taken-as-granted” practices in mathematics classrooms match the cultural capital of the dominant middle-class students but position Pāsifika students in ways which cause them cultural dissonance. What we clearly show is that the teaching and learning of mathematics R. Hunter (*) • J. Hunter Massey University, Auckland, New Zealand e-mail: R.Hunter@massey.ac.nz; J.Hunter1@massey.ac.nz # Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2017 E.A. McKinley, L.T. Smith (eds.), Handbook of Indigenous Education, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-10-1839-8_14-1 1 cannot ignore the student’s culture despite the beliefs held by many that mathematics is “culture-free.” In contrast, we illustrate that the teaching and learning of mathematics is wholly cultural and is closely tied to the cultural identity of the learner. We provide many examples over 15 years that illustrate that when teachers use pedagogy situated within the known world of their Pāsifika students and which premise student choice over their spoken language their sense of belonging within schools is affirmed. We draw on the voices of the Pāsifika students to show how Pāsifika-focused culturally responsive teaching has the potential to address issues of equity and social justice which supports them retaining their cultural identity while constructing a positive mathematical disposition.