In previous research it has been concluded that mathematical texts more often than not test a students reading comprehension rather than their mathematical knowledge. It has also been concluded that in order to promote language learning in the mathematics classroom the teacher has a great responsibility to not only make the oftentimes abstract mathematical key concepts clear and understandable but also the concepts, methods, calculations and operational rules. In order to do so teachers must be well equipped to teach and to keep the right focus when working with concretion such as supporting images or practical mathematics such as the use of manipulatives in the classroom. My study was aimed at further researching what learning activities are being used in the classroom to promote mathematical language development which is a fundamental part of the mathematics syllabus and how its being described in the view of teachers and of students alike. My study was also aimed at looking at the relation between the learning activities that are being used to promote language skills in the Swedish language classroom. I chose to do individual interviews of teachers, group interviews of students as well as a classroom observation. My theoretical foundation was a sociocultural perspective. The results of my study show that the verbal interaction between students and teachers or students and other students played an integral part in most learning activities. It was also in this interaction that most of the formative assessments were taking place. Furthermore the results showed that those students whose aim was to find mathematical connections and seeing how different mathematical concepts interact with each other had come farther in developing generalizable skills rather than the students whose focus was to understand key concepts.

Vårt huvudsyfte med studien var att undersöka om praktisk matematikundervisning i idrottshallen kan motivera och stärka elevers lärande. Undersökningen utfördes med enkäter i fyra årskurs sju klasser, med totalt 72 elever i samt intervjuer med fyra lärare, på två olika grundskolor i södra Sverige under perioden januari-februari 2008. Eftersom urvalsgruppen var liten, kan vi inte dra några generella slutsatser. Bakgrunden till vår undersökning var att vi hade fått uppfattningen om att praktisk matematikundervisning inte förekom så ofta i grundskolan. Studien visar att lärarna använder praktiska undervisningsmetoder som ett stöd för att få djupare förståelse hos eleverna. Vi fann också att ämnesintegration förekom mellan matematik och många andra ämnen, men aldrig mellan matematik och idrott.