IngentaConnect A revised theorization of the relationship between teachers' conc...

Authors: Hoz, Ron¹; Weizman, Geula²

Source: International Journal of Mathematical Education in Science and Technology, Volume 39, Number 7, October 2008 , pp. 905-924(20)

Publisher: Taylor and Francis Ltd

Abstract:

We assembled the ideas about mathematics and about its teaching which were expressed by mathematicians and mathematics educators into two pairs of 'official' (collective) conceptions: mathematics is either static or dynamic, and mathematics teaching is either closed or open. These polar conceptions produce a 4-pair relationship between the conceptions of mathematics and its teaching. The adherence to official conceptions was tapped by a questionnaire encompassing 176 Israeli high school mathematics teachers, aimed at examining the relationship between their conceptions of mathematics and its teaching. The majority of these teachers either hold a single conception in one of the domains or do not adhere to any conception, and a quarter of them hold either the static-closed or dynamic-open pairs of conceptions that prevail among teachers in other countries. Consequently, we define a conception of an entity as a comprehensive and homogenous set of ideas about a particular characteristic or feature of that entity. Reality is that teachers practice their profession without adhering to any official conception, and perhaps are (/to be?/) praised for their reluctance to blindly adopt the clear-cut rigid official conceptions of mathematics and its teaching while maintaining their individual and independent blends of ideas.

Keywords: conceptions; mathematics; mathematics teaching; teachers; theorization; relations

Document Type: Research article

DOI: 10.1080/00207390802136602

Affiliations: 1: Ben-Gurion University, Beer-Sheva, Israel 2: Hemdat Hadarom Teachers' College, Netivot-Azata, Israel

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A revised theorization of the relationship between teachers' conceptions of mathematics and its teaching