Full Description
The book reports a comparative research project about algebra teaching and learning in four countries. Algebra is a central topic of learning across the world, and it is well-known that it represents a hurdle for many students. The book presents analyses built on extensive video-recordings of classrooms documenting the first introduction to symbolic algebra (students aged 12 to 14). While the content addressed in all classrooms is variables, expressions and equations, the teaching approaches are diverse. The chapters bring the reader into different algebra classrooms, discussing issues such as mathematization and social norms, the role of mediating tools and designed examples, and teacher beliefs. By comparing classrooms, new insights are generated about how students understand the algebraic content, how teachers instruct, and how both parties deal with difficulties in learning elementary algebra. The book also describes a research methodology using video in search of taken-for-grantedaspects of algebra lessons.
Contents
Chapter 1: School Algebra.- Chapter 2: Researching Classrooms in Search of Learning: Theoretical and Methodological Considerations.- Chapter 3: The VIDEOMAT Project: Theoretical Considerations and Methodological Procedures.- Chapter 4: Participation and Mathematization in Introductory Algebra Classrooms: The Case of Sweden.- Chapter 5: Designed Examples as Mediating Tools: Introductory Algebra in Two Norwegian Grade 8 Classrooms.- Chapter 6: Learning to Solve Equations in Three Swedish-speaking Classrooms in Finland.- Chapter 7: How Teachers Introduce Algebra and How it Might Affect Students' Beliefs About What it Means to "Do" Mathematics.- Chapter 8: The Fifth Lesson: Students' Responses to a Patterning Task Across the Four Countries.- Chapter 9: Encouraging Algebraic Reasoning in Contemporary Classrooms: Some Observations and a Synthesis.
