This study explores learning mathematics for teaching through a particular enactment of e-formative assessment, a series of six online study sessions. The data involved 173 student teachers registered on the Bachelor of Education (BEd) degree programme within a School of Education of a Scottish University. It is located within a relatively uncharted area of formative assessment where our attention is refocused from the assessor to the learner's perspective. The aim to develop mathematical understanding and a greater sense of autonomy meant looking for those ‘cracks where the light gets in' rather than ‘gaps to be bridged': a more divergent approach to formative assessment which required a delicate orchestration of social, pedagogical and technological systems. A mixed methods multistrand parallel design was used to take a stereoscopic view of learner interactions with the online study sessions. The concepts and methods within this thesis are not necessarily new, however the way they have been brought together is innovative. These have been used not only to support student teachers in developing their own mathematical understanding but also to let them experience different ways of working with children. A conceptual framework developed for practising teachers and activity types designed for a mathematics classroom have been adapted for student teachers in a mathematics education classroom. Findings indicate that the capacity to change habits and to understand the reasoning of others is more important than formal mathematics qualifications. An informed design and use of e-formative assessment can support student teachers in developing their mathematical reasoning where it is embedded within their experiences of learning mathematics for teaching involving both specialised mathematical knowledge and mathematical pedagogical content knowledge. As such, this study hopefully adds to and provides another perspective on e-formative assessment and mathematics education, in particular, learning mathematics for teaching.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:bl.uk/oai:ethos.bl.uk:606452 |
| Date | January 2014 |
| Creators | Martin, Helen |
| Publisher | University of Aberdeen |
| Source Sets | Ethos UK |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Electronic Thesis or Dissertation |
| Source | http://digitool.abdn.ac.uk:80/webclient/DeliveryManager?pid=210704 |
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