Hilton, C; Houssart, J; (2014) How working on mathematics impacts primary teaching: Mathematics Specialist Teachers make the connections. In: Proceedings of the 8th British Congress of Mathematics Education 2014. (pp. pp. 183-190). British Society for Research into Learning Mathematics: Nottingham, UK.

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Abstract

We draw on analysis of assignments by primary teachers as part of the assessment for the Mathematics Specialist Teachers programme (MaST). In the assignment teachers are asked to work on some mathematics themselves, write up the mathematical part of their work then write about how this experience has impacted on their practice as a primary teacher. We focus first on case studies of teachers who included algebraic work in the first part of their assignments and look at what they say about the connections between this and their practice as primary teachers. Connections are made in a range of ways, but an overall finding is that teachers tended to focus more on the process of doing mathematics and the consequences this had for their practice rather than knowing mathematics. A further theme was feelings about mathematics, entailing positive consequences for practice, even where the initial feelings included negative dimensions. Examination of assignments on other aspects of mathematics confirms the presence of these three themes. Across all the assignments there was strong evidence that this experience of doing mathematics impacted positively on how teachers worked mathematically with their primary classes.

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