Mathematics in primary school can seem simple for many people, but it is not simple at all. The historical development of the basic mathematical concepts and ways of thinking has its starting point in practical situations and has taken several hundreds of years. So long development indicates that mathematical learning and teaching at primary school is complex.

An example: In practical situations we can think of 1/3 as a part of a cake, but gradually in mathematics we are supposed to be able to think of  1/3 as a number having property that the product is 1 when we multiply is with 3, a number that is twice as big as 1/6, etc.; in other words an abstract mathematical object having some particular properties and relations to other mathematical objects. Such a transition from every-day-discourse to a more mathematical discourse is demanding both for students and teachers.

The research group takes on a socio-cultural perspective on learning in its research and development on mathematics in primary school and teacher education grades 1-7. Following that perspective, participation in a community is seen as crucial for learning. Through partaking in a given mathematical community, the learner can become more and more central participant in different mathematical practices taking place in the community – he or she adopt use of words, tools and routines that characterize a mathematical discourse. The research group works on questions related to communication in mathematics classrooms, students’ use of different representations, routines that are promoted and developed in work on specific mathematical concepts and procedures, and in mathematics teaching in general.

Pre-service teachers participate in different communities through teacher education. They participate in different mathematics courses and courses in other subjects, field practice at different schools. The communities affect development of practices/routines pre-service teacher take in use in their mathematics teaching. The research group investigate pre-service teachers’ learning in and across different communities, and how teaching at university campus in connection to practice field can support pre-service teachers’ development of core practices for mathematics teaching.

Projects:

• Reasoning and proving in primary education
• Core practices in mathematics teacher education (PDF)
• Arithmetic in primary school (PDF)