Plenary Sessions

Jarmila Novotná (Charles University in Prague, Faculty of Education, Czech Republic): Research in teacher education and innovation at schools – Cooperation, competition or two separate worlds?

The plenary lecture will build on the plenary lecture from ICME 10 (Mirror images of an emerging field: Researching mathematics teacher education*)) in which areas that had attracted little attention of researchers but were crucial (not only) for teacher education were defined. The field of research in mathematics teacher education has changed considerably over the years since ICME 10, which asks for new definition of issues and trends.

The focus of the first part of the lecture will be on trends in current research into teacher education and practice. This part of the lecture will come out predominantly from information presented within the frame of TWG Mathematics teacher education and professional development, which has been active within CERMEs as well as other international conferences, in journals and books for many years. The goal of this part is not an exhaustive overview but indication of the main trends in the research domain.

The second part of the lecture will present a more detailed discussion of several current research areas, their theoretical backgrounds as well as applications of their findings in teacher education and everyday school practice.

*) Adler, J., Ball, D., Krainer, K., Lin, F-L., & Novotná, J. (2004). Mirror images of an emerging field: Researching mathematics teacher education. ICME 10, Copenhagen. (A slightly modified version is published in Educational Studies in Mathematics, 60(3), 2005, 359-381).

Carmen Batanero (Department of Mathematics Education, Universidad de Granada, Spain): Understanding randomness: Challenges for research and teaching

Presentation to be downloaded here

The ubiquity of randomness and the consequent need to understand random phenomena in order to make adequate decisions led many countries to include probability in the curricula from primary education to post-secondary education. This need was also recognized by mathematicians who developed Probability theory, a relatively young field, not free of controversies, which are also reflected in the lack of agreement on a common definition of randomness.

Psychological and didactical research suggest widespread misconceptions and misperceptions of randomness; however these results have not always been taken into account in teaching, where randomness is considered a transparent concept.

In this presentation I will first reflect on the different meanings of randomness, and then will summarize the different approaches to research on understanding randomness, with particular emphasis on the European contribution.

I will finish with some ideas to improve teaching and continue research on this topic.

Barbara Jaworski (United Kingdom), Mariolina Bartolini Bussi (Italy), Edyta Nowinska (Germany), and Susanne Prediger (Germany): What do we mean by cultural contexts in European Research in Mathematics Education? (Plenary panel)

Presentation to be downloaded here

The organisers and presenters of this panel have set out to address the above question and a number of sub-questions which include the following:

How do cultural influences challenge the universality of research practices and outcomes?
Which (hidden) values of your culture influence your research?

We have settled on three thematic areas as a focus for our input and subsequent discussion:

Mathematics and the didactics of mathematics; how we analyse mathematical concepts and root our analyses historically; how these ways of explaining and analysing mathematical concepts can be developed for the curriculum and influence the curriculum.
Classrooms, teachers and students – how the cultures which underpin interaction and communication, and the use of language, enable or restrict attention to mathematical concepts, ways of mathematical thinking, and development of mathematical understandings.
Theoretical considerations and ways in which our theories underpin research interpretations, the ways in which research findings emerge and are presented in published works.

We are in discussion with a group of Young Researchers who will communicate their perspectives and be represented in the panel by Edyta Nowinska. The group includes: Annica Andersson; Mustafa Alpaslan and Marta Pytlak.

We invite CERME 9 participants to consider the above questions and themes in order to respond to the panel at CERME 9.