Symbolizing And Communicating In Mathematics Classrooms

This volume grew out of a symposium on discourse, tools, and instructional design at Vanderbilt University in 1995 that brought together a small international group to grapple with issues of communicating, symbolizing, modeling, and mathematizing, particularly as these issues relate to learning in the classroom. The participants invited to develop chapters for this book--all internationally recognized scholars in their respective fields--were selected to represent a wide range of theoretical perspectives including mathematics education, cognitive science, sociocultural theory, and discourse theory. The work is distinguished by the caliber of the contributors, the significance of the topics addressed in the current era of reform in mathematics education, and the diversity of perspectives taken to a common set of themes and issues. The book is intended for those who are seeking to expand their understanding of the complexity of learning in order to enhance the learning experiences students have in schools, primarily researchers, instructional designers, and graduate students in mathematics education, as well as those in other fields including science education, instructional design in general, discourse theory, and semiotics.

Talking about numbers - Connecting numbers, stories and facts - Numbers and operations - Collecting, representing and interpreting data - Investigating geometry with pictures and words - Sights and sounds of measurement - Seeing patterns and sharing algebraic ideas - Seeing and hearingng_____________

This book contains ideas for teachers facing the challenges of turning their classrooms and schools into "discourse communities." The yearbook is divided into four sections. Part 1 (chapters 1-3) sets the stage by considering the challenges inherent in shifting directions of discourse. Part 2 (chapters 4-21) focuses on establishing discourse communities within the classroom. Part 3 (chapters 22-25) moves the discourse discussion outside the K-12 arena. Finally, Part 4 (chapters 26-28) focuses on the role of language in mathematics discourse. Chapters include: (1) "Communication--An Imperative for Change: A Conversation with Mary Lindquist" (M. M. Lindquist & P. C. Elliott); (2) "Diverse Communications" (D. Pimm); (3) "Building Discourse Communities in Mathematics Classrooms: A Worthwhile but Challenging Journey" (E. A. Silver & M. S. Smith); (4) "Meaningful Communication among Children: Data Collection" (S. Folkson); (5) "The Link Sheet: A Communication Aid for Clarifying and Developing Mathematical Ideas and Processes" (M. Shield & K. Swinson); (6) "Using Multiple Representations to Communicate: An Algebra Challenge" (L. P. McCoy, T. H. Baker, & L. S. Little); (7) "Algebraic Thinking, Language, and Word Problems" (W. W. Esty & Anne R. Teppo); (8) "Communicating the Mathematics in Children's Trade Books Using Mathematical Annotations" (P. A. Halpern); (9) "Fostering Metaphorical Thinking through Children's Literature" (D. J. Whitin & P. E. Whitin); (10) "Using Reading to Construct Mathematical Meaning" (M. Siegel, R. Borasi, J. M. Fonzi, L. G. Sanridge, & C. Smith); (11) "Communicating Mathematics through Literature" (R. Narode); (12) "Talk Your Way into Writing" (D. Huinker & C. Laughlin); (13) "Try a Little of the Write Stuff" (P. A. House); (14) "Developing and Assessing Mathematical Understanding in Calculus through Writing" (J. O. Masingila & E. Prus-Wisniowska); (15) "Is Anybody Listening?" (S. E. B. Pirie); (16) "Developing Problem-Solving Behaviors by Assessing Communication in Cooperative Learning Groups" (A. F. Artzt); (17) "Using Technology to Enhance Communication in Mathematics" (A. E. Barron & M. C. Hynes); (18) "The Role of Open-Ended Tasks and Holistic Scoring Rubrics: Assessing Students' Mathematical Reasoning and Communication" (J. Cai, S. Lane, & M. S. Jakabcsin); (19) "Mathematical Communication in Students' Responses to a Performance-Assessment Task" (D. Peressini & J. Bassett); (20) "Communication Processes in Mathematical Explorations and Investigations" (C. Greenes & L. Schulman); (21) "Embedding Communication throughout the Curriculum" (H. L. Schoen, D. L. Bean, & S. W. Ziebarth); (22) "Children, Teach Your Parents Well: Communication in Mathematics between Home and School" (A. Hart, M. Smyth, K. Vetter, & E. Hart); (23) "Communicating about Alternative Assessment Beyond the Mathematics Classroom" (P. A. Kenney, C. G. Schloemer, & R. W. Cain); (24) "Mathematics Pen-Pal Letter Writing" (E. Phillips); (25) "Developing Preservice Teachers' Strategies for Communicating in and about Mathematics" (F. R. Curcio, S. L. Schwartz, & C. A. Brown); (26) "Strategies to Support the Learning of the Language of Mathematics" (R. N. Rubenstein); (27) "Communication in Mathematics for Students with Limited English Proficiency" (R. A. Olivares); and (28) "Mathematics as a Language" (Z. Usiskin). (MKR)

The way in which teachers communicate with their students partly determines what they communicate. This book addresses the communication issue by building on a series of papers whose first versions were presented in 1992 at the Sixth International Congress of Mathematics Education in Quebec. Papers include: (1) "Crossing the Gulf between Thought and Symbol: Language as (Slippery) Stepping-Stones" (Susan E.B. Pirie); (2) "Three Epistemologies, Three Views of Classroom Communication: Constructivism, Sociocultural Approaches, Interactionism" (Anna Sierpinska); (3) "Verbal Interaction in the Mathematics Classroom: A Vygotskian Analysis" (Maria G. Bartolini Bussi); (4) "Discourse and Beyond: On the Ethnography of Classroom Discourse" (Falk Seeger); (5) "From 'Stoffdidaktik' to Social Interactionism: An Evolution of Approaches to the Study of Language and Communication in German Mathematics Education Research" (Heinz Steinbring); (6) "Examining the Linguistic Mediation of Pedagogic Interactions in Mathematics" (Clive Kanes); (7) "Pupil Language-Teacher Language: Two Case Studies and the Consequences for Teacher Training" (Albrecht Abele); (8) "Teacher-Student Communication in Traditional and Constructivist Approaches to Teaching" (Maria Luiza Cestari); (9) "Alternative Patterns of Communication in Mathematics Classes: Funneling or Focusing?" (Terry Wood); (10) "Students Communicating in Small Groups: Making Sense of Data in Graphical Form" (Frances R. Curcio and Alice F. Artzt); (11) "Communication and Learning in Small-Group Discussions" (Kaye Stacey and Anne Gooding); (12) "Mathematical Communication through Small-Group Discussions" (Marta Civil); (13) "Formats of Argumentation in the Mathematics Classroom" (Gotz Krummheuer); (14) "Teaching without Instruction: The Neo-Socratic Method" (Rainer Loska); (15) "The Role of Natural Language in Prealgebraic and Algebraic Thinking" (Ferdinando Arzarello); (16) "How Students Interpret Equations: Intuition versus Taught Procedures" (Mollie MacGregor); (17) "Epistemological and Metacognitive Factors Involved in the Learning of Mathematics: The Case of Graphic Representations of Functions" (Maria Kaldrimidou and Andreas Ikonomou); (18) "Making Mathematics Accessible" (Megan Clark); (19) "Itineraries through Logic To Enhance Linguistic and Argumentative Skills" (Giancarlo Navarra); and (20)"Communication in a Secondary Mathematics Classroom: Some Images" (Judith Fonzi and Constance Smith). (ASK)

This volume grew out of a symposium on discourse, tools, and instructional design at Vanderbilt University in 1995 that brought together a small international group to grapple with issues of communicating, symbolizing, modeling, and mathematizing, particularly as these issues relate to learning in the classroom. The participants invited to develop chapters for this book--all internationally recognized scholars in their respective fields--were selected to represent a wide range of theoretical perspectives including mathematics education, cognitive science, sociocultural theory, and discourse theory. The work is distinguished by the caliber of the contributors, the significance of the topics addressed in the current era of reform in mathematics education, and the diversity of perspectives taken to a common set of themes and issues. The book is intended for those who are seeking to expand their understanding of the complexity of learning in order to enhance the learning experiences students have in schools, primarily researchers, instructional designers, and graduate students in mathematics education, as well as those in other fields including science education, instructional design in general, discourse theory, and semiotics.

Current interest in semiotics is undoubtedly related to our increasing awareness that our manners of thinking and acting in our world are deeply indebted to a variety of signs and sign systems (language included) that surround us.

Over the past years a substantial amount of research has been undertaken relating to the development of powerful learning environments for the acquisition in students of worthwhile educational objectives focussing on conceptual understanding, higher-order cognitive and metacognitive skills, and self-regulated learning. This research has been mainly undertaken from three distinct, but related perspectives in the study of learning and instruction, namely instructional psychology, instructional technology, and instructional design. Against this background a "research community" involving 14 European research teams has recently been initiated with the aim of interactively contributing to the advancement of theory and methodology relating to the design, implementation, and evaluation of powerful learning environments.This volume, based on the plenary lectures and working sessions during the community's third workshop, constitutes a collective output of this research community, focussing on the identification and analysis of major components and dimensions of powerful learning environments aimed at the promotion of deep conceptual and strategic learning in major domains of school curricula, like mathematics, physics, history, and social sciences.In Part I of the volume three chapters present general perspectives on the central theme of the third workshop. In Part II six studies are reported wherein novel learning environments for elementary and secondary mathematics education have been designed, implemented and evaluated. In Part III of the volume another set of five investigations is presented relating to the design, implementation and evaluation of powerful learning environments in other subject-matter domains (physics, history, social sciences) and in teacher training.

Mathematics classrooms are increasingly multilingual, whether they are found in linguistically diverse societies, urban melting pots or planned bilingual programs. The chapters in this book present and discuss examples of mathematics classroom life from a range of multilingual classroom settings, and use these examples to draw out and discuss key issues for the teaching and learning of mathematics and language. These issues relate to pedagogy, students’ learning, curriculum, assessment, policy and aspects of educational theory. The contributions are based on research conducted in mathematics classrooms in Europe, South Asia, North America and Australia. Recurring issues for the learning of mathematics include the relationship between language and mathematics, the relationship between formal and informal mathematical language, and the relationship between students’ home languages and the official language of schooling.