Mathematics teachers’ work with resources: four cases of secondary teachers using technology

Kayali, Lina (2019) Mathematics teachers’ work with resources: four cases of secondary teachers using technology. Doctoral thesis, University of East Anglia.

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Abstract

This study examines teachers’ work with paper-based, technology and social resources with the use of two theoretical frameworks: the Documentational approach and the Knowledge Quartet. The former affords looking at teachers’ resources and resource systems and how these are utilized under schemes of work. The latter affords a closer look at teachers’ work during lessons and at their knowledge-in-action. Specifically, the study investigates how four upper secondary teachers use, re-use and balance their resources by looking at their schemes of work in class, through lesson observations; and, by reflecting on the details of their work and knowledge-in-action in pre- and post-observation interviews. Analysis examines five themes in relation to teachers’ work. First, teachers use students’ contributions as a resource during lessons. Second, teachers connect (or not) different resources. Third, institutional factors, such as examinations requirements and school policy, have impact on teachers’ decisions and on how they balance their resource use. Fourth, when mathematics-education software is used, teacher knowledge of the software comes into play. Fifth, there is ambiguity in the identification of contingency moments, particularly regarding whether these moments were anticipated (or not) or provoked by the teacher. These five themes also suggest theoretical findings. In relation to the Knowledge Quartet, the findings indicate the potency of adding a few new codes or extending existing codes. This is especially pertinent in the context of teaching upper secondary mathematics with technology resources. In relation to the Documentational approach, this study introduces two constructs: scheme-in-action and re-scheming. A scheme-in-action is the scheme followed in class and documented from the classroom. Re-scheming is scheming again or differently from one lesson to another. Finally, the study discusses implications for practice and proposes the use of key incidents extracted from classroom observations towards the development of teacher education resources (e.g. for the MathTASK programme).

Item Type:	Thesis (Doctoral)
Faculty \ School:	Faculty of Social Sciences > School of Education and Lifelong Learning
Depositing User:	Chris White
Date Deposited:	24 Nov 2020 14:04
Last Modified:	24 Nov 2020 14:04
URI:	https://ueaeprints.uea.ac.uk/id/eprint/77778
DOI:

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