Page 409 - 8th European Congress of Mathematics ∙ 20-26 June 2021 ∙ Portorož, Slovenia ∙ Book of Abstracts
P. 409
MATHEMATICS IN EDUCATION (MS-19)
they were also more prone to arithmetic errors. The research results can help researchers to
create new research tools to measure students’ mathematical understanding and help teachers
to find new approaches that give them insight into students’ mathematical understanding.
Keywords: visualisation, representation, understanding, subtraction, parenthesis, fraction, ex-
ponentiation.
Lessons learned from pre-service teachers’ narratives of math failure
Sonja Lutovac, sonja.lutovac@oulu.fi
University of Oulu, Faculty of Education, Finland
This presentation will discuss the findings of the ‘Narrated Failures’ project (Academy of Fin-
land, project ID 307672), where pre-service teachers’ narratives of math failure were analysed.
Several studies were conducted in which both pre-service elementary school and pre-service
mathematics teachers were instructed to write an essay on the topic of ‘math failure and iden-
tity’. They were asked to recall their autobiographical experiences of past failure, to define
math failure, and reflect on how their failure experiences have shaped them as students, and as
future teachers. The narrative analysis of individual cases, as well as cross-case comparison
were performed in attempt to deepen understanding of what math failure is from the perspec-
tive of the two mentioned cohorts of future teachers of mathematics and how failure shapes their
identity development as teachers. In this presentation, the findings of four distinct yet entwined
investigations are discussed to shed light on how narratives of math failure can inform teacher
education pedagogies. The need to understand math failure as an autobiographical experience
is highlighted to better prepare both generalist and specialist future teachers for the variety of
ways failure will manifest in their classrooms.
Keywords: math failure, identity, narrative, pre-service teachers, teacher education
The role of Fermi problems in the concept of developing mathematical
literacy among students
Vida Manfreda Kolar, vida.manfreda-kolar@pef.uni-lj.si
University of Ljubljana, Faculty of Education, Slovenia
Coauthor: Tatjana Hodnik
The article deals with mathematical literacy in relation to mathematical knowledge and mathe-
matical problems. It presents also the Slovenian project NA-MA POTI, which started in 2018
and aims to develop mathematical literacy at the national level, from kindergarten to secondary
education. The concept of mathematical literacy identifies two cornerstones of mathematical
literacy: 1) mathematical thinking, that is, understanding and using mathematical concepts,
procedures, strategies and communication as a basis for mathematical literacy; and 2) problem
solving in different contexts (personal, social, professional, scientific) that enable a mathemati-
cal approach. The latter also highlights mathematical modelling, which generally involves inter-
preting real-world observations using conceptual (mathematically structured) language. Fermi
problems represent a special type of mathematical modelling problems. They are generally de-
fined as problems that are at first sight unsolvable, are authentic and are not structured in the
same way as school problems, require reasoning about the necessary data for solving and eval-
407
they were also more prone to arithmetic errors. The research results can help researchers to
create new research tools to measure students’ mathematical understanding and help teachers
to find new approaches that give them insight into students’ mathematical understanding.
Keywords: visualisation, representation, understanding, subtraction, parenthesis, fraction, ex-
ponentiation.
Lessons learned from pre-service teachers’ narratives of math failure
Sonja Lutovac, sonja.lutovac@oulu.fi
University of Oulu, Faculty of Education, Finland
This presentation will discuss the findings of the ‘Narrated Failures’ project (Academy of Fin-
land, project ID 307672), where pre-service teachers’ narratives of math failure were analysed.
Several studies were conducted in which both pre-service elementary school and pre-service
mathematics teachers were instructed to write an essay on the topic of ‘math failure and iden-
tity’. They were asked to recall their autobiographical experiences of past failure, to define
math failure, and reflect on how their failure experiences have shaped them as students, and as
future teachers. The narrative analysis of individual cases, as well as cross-case comparison
were performed in attempt to deepen understanding of what math failure is from the perspec-
tive of the two mentioned cohorts of future teachers of mathematics and how failure shapes their
identity development as teachers. In this presentation, the findings of four distinct yet entwined
investigations are discussed to shed light on how narratives of math failure can inform teacher
education pedagogies. The need to understand math failure as an autobiographical experience
is highlighted to better prepare both generalist and specialist future teachers for the variety of
ways failure will manifest in their classrooms.
Keywords: math failure, identity, narrative, pre-service teachers, teacher education
The role of Fermi problems in the concept of developing mathematical
literacy among students
Vida Manfreda Kolar, vida.manfreda-kolar@pef.uni-lj.si
University of Ljubljana, Faculty of Education, Slovenia
Coauthor: Tatjana Hodnik
The article deals with mathematical literacy in relation to mathematical knowledge and mathe-
matical problems. It presents also the Slovenian project NA-MA POTI, which started in 2018
and aims to develop mathematical literacy at the national level, from kindergarten to secondary
education. The concept of mathematical literacy identifies two cornerstones of mathematical
literacy: 1) mathematical thinking, that is, understanding and using mathematical concepts,
procedures, strategies and communication as a basis for mathematical literacy; and 2) problem
solving in different contexts (personal, social, professional, scientific) that enable a mathemati-
cal approach. The latter also highlights mathematical modelling, which generally involves inter-
preting real-world observations using conceptual (mathematically structured) language. Fermi
problems represent a special type of mathematical modelling problems. They are generally de-
fined as problems that are at first sight unsolvable, are authentic and are not structured in the
same way as school problems, require reasoning about the necessary data for solving and eval-
407
