Helena Rocha

The present study aims to understand the potentialities and implications,
to the teacher and her practice, of the use of formative assessment with the support
of educational technology.
Regarding the research methodology, this study is part of the research on own
practice. The participants were the teacher, who was simultaneously a researcher,
and the students of a 9th grade class.
In the course of this experience it was found that the use of formative assessment
allows, on the one hand, the student to realize what he manages to understand, and
what he has to do to overcome what are less consolidated parts of the content in
study; and, on the other, the teacher to detect in a timely manner the difficulties of
the student and to change strategies to allow the student to overcome his difficulties.
The lack of time, the difficulties in managing the curriculum and the existence of
national exams are three of the main obstacles mentioned by the teachers for the
non-realization of formative assessment. In this experience it was found that the use
of new technologies turns possible to overcome these limitations.
This type of assessment had a very positive impact on teacher’s practice and in the
learning of the students.
Keywords: assessment; formative assessment; new technologies.

This study intends to characterize how the teacher uses and integrates the different representations provided by the graphing calculator on the process of teaching and learning functions at the secondary level. Specifically, it intends to understand the balance established between the use of the different representations, and the way these representations are articulated. The conclusions reached point to an active use of the graphic and algebraic representations and to a scarce use of the tabular representation. The conclusions also point to a flexible articulation between the two representations usual used, assuming different forms and frequently an interactive approach, repeatedly switching between representations.

Teacher education is central to the development of the professional knowledge of pre-service teachers. The main goal of this paper is to refect on the development that the analysis (done by a group of pre-service secondary teachers) of a set of tasks, based on elements related to domains of KTMT—Knowledge for Teaching Mathematics with Technology—can bring to the knowledge of pre-service teachers of mathematics. Specifcally, the goal was to investigate the following questions: (1) What are the factors that guide the pre-service teachers’ task discussion? (2) Which KTMT domains are emphasized by pre-service teachers during task discussion? The elements taken into account are the characteristics of the tasks (focus on cognitive level, structuring level and technology role), the use of representations (focus on balance and articulation of representations), and the equilibrium between experimentation (focus on digital technology afordances) and justifcation (focus on argumentation and proof). The methodology of this case study involves a qualitative approach. The main conclusions suggest that infuences in the pre-service teachers’ discussion of tasks fell into the following categories: the potentialities of technology, the type of tasks, and the prospective teachers’ experience with a set of tasks, and analysis of some real students’ reports. With regard to KTMT, although it was possible to identify some global development, Teaching and Learning and Technology Knowledge was the domain in which stronger development took place.

GAMES AND THE LEARNING OF MATHEMATICS OUTSIDE THE CLASSROOM
H. Rocha

Universidade Nova de Lisboa, Faculdade de Ciências e Tecnologia (PORTUGAL)

Playing games is a recreational activity that is also highly recognized as a potentially rich activity for the teaching and learning. It is an activity that involves the recognition and observance of rules, as well as the development of strategies to achieve victory. It is thus an activity that encourages compliance with rules but also the development of learning and therefore has a socializing character while stimulating critical thinking and analysis of situations. This is why many authors think about playing games as a problem-solving activity with great potential for the learning of mathematics. However, a review of the literature suggests that mathematical learning does not always occur, pointing to the relevance of the specific features of the game and the circumstances in which it is used. Looking to contribute to a better understanding of these issues, the project that was the basis of this study focuses on the use of games by middle school students, intending to promote their mathematical learning in a voluntary and informal context, outside the classroom. The games were available in MatLab, a room of the school supervised by mathematics teachers, which students could visit in their leisure time. In this communication I intend to analyze how the visits to MatLab contributed to the mathematical learning of students, considering the influence of specific characteristics of the games and the atmosphere created in MatLab, given the students’ previous mathematical knowledge.

The study adopts a qualitative and interpretative methodological approach, undertaking two student case studies. Data collection was completed over three months and included observation of twenty visits of these students to MatLab. Data collection was made through the development of a logbook, audio record of the students’ visits and two interviews to the students and to their teacher. Data analysis was based on the evidence gathered in the light of the problem under study.

The conclusions reached stress the importance of certain features of the games to promote student engagement, leading to a desire for self-improvement, very important for the development of sustained learning. Computer games have proven to have a stronger potential to engage students than board games. Nevertheless, the most important characteristics of a game seem to be related to the possibility of playing at different mathematical levels (without getting blocked by lack of knowledge) and to the possibility of keep getting better marks (without the existence of a maximum level from which evolution is not possible). In what concerns to achievement in mathematics’ classes, the students’ teacher reports an improvement in mathematics knowledge (more evident in the average achiever student) as well as an increase in students’ involvement in class work (more evident in the low achiever student).

keywords: game-based learning, mathematics, informal learning.

The teacher’s knowledge has long been viewed as a strong influence on the students’ learning. Several authors have sought to develop procedures to assess this knowledge, but this has proved to be a complex task. In this paper I present an outline of a conceptualization to analyze the teacher's knowledge, based on the model of the Knowledge for Teaching Mathematics with Technology (KTMT) and a set of tasks. These tasks are chosen by the teacher taking into account the potential of the tasks to take advantage of the technology’s potential. The analysis of the teacher’s KTMT is based on the characteristics of the tasks chosen by the teacher; the balance established between the representations provided by the technology that the tasks advocate; the way how the tasks pay attention to the new issue of seeking for a suitable viewing window; and also the way how the tasks take into account the expectable difficulties of the students in the process of looking for the window.

The main goal of this work is to characterize how the knowledge of pre-service teachers about the characteristics of the tasks and the role of technology evolves. Based on a case study carried out around a pair of pre-service teachers, the main conclusions point to the contribution of the reflection around a set of six tasks on Functions selected by the pre-service teachers. Central to this reflection was an analyze of the role technology can play in tasks, the comments made by the colleagues to their tasks and some experiences on modeling and open-ended tasks. These elements provided the development of a greater awareness regarding aspects such as the level of structuring of the task and its degree of challenge. And this was determinant for an appropriation of the different characteristics of the tasks and to the development of the pre-service teachers’ knowledge.

Technology is recognized for its potential to implement exploration tasks. The ease and speed with which it becomes possible to observe many cases of a situation, allows the development of conjectures and brings conviction about their veracity. Mathematical proof, assumed as the essence of Mathematics, tends to appear to the students as something dispensable. Based on KTMT – Knowledge for Teaching Mathematics with Technology model, this study intends to understand the impact of the teachers’ knowledge on mathematical proof in a context of technology integration. The study adopts a qualitative and interpretative methodology, based on case study, analyzing the practice of one teacher. The conclusions emphasize the relevance of the teacher’s MTK – Mathematics and Technology Knowledge, and TLTK – Teaching and Learning and Technology Knowledge. The teacher's MTK guides her decisions, leading her to focus on helping students understand the meaning of conjecture and proof, valuing, at the same time, the relevance of algebraic manipulations. However, the teacher’s TLTK guides her practice, where the knowledge about the students is determinant. The study provides evidence about the difficulty of articulating proof and technology, but it also clarifies the relevance of this articulation and of how the teacher’s KTMT can impact the teacher’s decisions.

A tecnologia é cada vez mais indispensável no dia-a-dia, rodeando-nos constantemente. Para os nossos alunos é uma realidade que conhecem desde sempre e que tendem a encarar com uma naturalidade descontraída e intuitiva. A facilidade de acesso à tecnologia e o modo como esta tende a enfatizar o intuitivo e a relegar para segundo plano o formal e a demonstração matemática são o foco deste artigo. Partindo da análise de uma proposta de trabalho onde alunos de 10.º ano começam por uma abordagem intuitiva apoiada na calculadora gráfica e terminam a realizar uma demonstração da conjectura que formularam, procuro discutir a problemática. As conclusões alcançadas sugerem que é possível colocar aos alunos situações onde estes se podem aperceber da vantagem de recorrer tanto a abordagens mais formais como a abordagens mais intuitivas e isto mesmo quando a tecnologia é uma realidade em sala de aula. Sugere ainda que a realização de demonstrações pode, entre outros aspectos já identificados na literatura, dar um contributo importante para a compreensão de aspectos basilares da Matemática.

This study focusses on the criteria used by pre-service teachers of Mathematics to choose interdisciplinary tasks. The pre-service teachers’ knowledge is assumed as the basis of the actions taken and used as the origin of the choices and approaches observed. The study adopts a qualitative and interpretative methodology and the data were collected using class observation and interviews. The analysis is guided by the Application and Pedagogical Content Knowledge, a model inspired on TPACK (from Mishra and Koehler) and MKT (from Ball and colleagues). The conclusions point to an appreciation of the mathematical part of the tasks and to a devaluation of the remaining components. This suggests difficulty in articulating and integrating different domains of knowledge and points to a fragmented view of the potential of using mathematical applications.

Technology is recognized by its potential to promote mathematical learning. However, achieving this potential
requires the teachers to have the knowledge to integrate it properly into their practices. Several authors have intended to characterize the teachers’ knowledge and developed several models, but this approach has often been criticized by its static approach, not attending neither valuing the teachers’ practice. In this study we adopt the KTMT – Knowledge for Teaching Mathematics with Technology model, assuming the teachers’ practice as the main scenario of analysis. We focus on the options guiding the teachers’ decisions when confronted with a situation of lack of mathematical concordance while teaching functions. The situations of lack of mathematical concordance (i.e., situations where the mathematics addressed by the students is different from the one intended by the teacher) are assumed as rich and encapsulating the potential to reveal significant aspects of the teachers’ KTMT. The main goal of the study is to understand what domains of the teachers’ KTMT are highlighted in these circumstances. A qualitative methodology is adopted and one episode of one 10th grade teacher’s practice is analyzed, based on the KTMT model. The conclusions reached show the relevance of different knowledge domains, but emphasize the Mathematics and Technology Knowledge (MTK). They also raise questions about the impact of the specific technology being used on the teachers’ KTMT.

A Matemática é uma das áreas que integra o plano curricular dos Cursos de Educação e Formação (CEF), pelo contributo para o exercício da cidadania em sociedades democráticas e tecnologicamente avançadas, mas esta é, também, frequentemente fonte de exclusão. O programa reconhece-o e enfatiza uma aprendizagem mais ligada ao concreto e à realidade. Mas reconhece também que é ao professor que compete gerir a sua implementação, dando forma às situações de aprendizagem e integrando-as de forma coerente e articulada no curso específico que os alunos frequentam. O estudo que aqui se apresenta teve como principal objectivo analisar e compreender as opções efectuadas pelo professor no decorrer das diferentes etapas da sua prática, dando atenção aos dilemas que enfrentou e às razões que valorizou na tomada de decisões. A abordagem metodológica adoptada é de natureza qualitativa e interpretativa, com a realização dum estudo de caso do professor de Matemática Aplicada dum CEF de Decoração e Pintura Cerâmica. A recolha de dados foi concretizada através de entrevistas, observação de aulas e recolha documental, sendo a análise de dados orientada pelo quadro teórico, conciliado com a interpretação destes. Nas conclusões do estudo a redução dos pré-requisitos, a preocupação em partir dos interesses dos alunos e a intenção de alargar a cultura dos alunos surgem como centrais na selecção das tarefas; enquanto o envolvimento activo dos alunos caracteriza a implementação das aulas. Os dilemas centram-se fundamentalmente na valorização relativa e aprofundamento a atribuir a cada conteúdo e na articulação entre formal e intuitivo.

The potential of using different representations is widely recognized, but not much is known about how teachers use them nor about the impact of the technology on such use. The goal of this study is to characterize the teachers’ representational fluency when teaching functions at high school level, discussing, at the same time, the impact in the use of representations resulting from the use of technology. Adopting a qualitative approach, I analyze one teacher’s practice. The results suggest that algebraic and graphical representations are seen as more important, that tabular representation is assumed as irrelevant and that the access to technology impacts the learning, the representations used and how they are used.

This paper presents part of a study that aimed to make more explicit the pragmatic theories that inform the design of professional development programs with an emphasis on the integration of digital technologies in the practices of mathematics teachers. The analysis carried out was based on a set of projects considered representative and implemented in four countries – Colombia, Italy, Mexico and Portugal. Based on this analysis, we identify relevant elements (e.g., similarities and differences, barriers and opportunities) and develop recommendations to be taken into account in the design of future professional development programs. In this process, we identified a set of aspects and sub-aspects, as well as several interconnections between them, which emerged in relation to five main themes and allowed us to reveal our pragmatic theories. Thus, this work provides a framework to support the design of future projects for the professional development of mathematics teachers regarding the use of digital technology.

This study focuses on teacher’s Knowledge for Teaching Mathematics with Technology (KTMT), paying a special attention to teacher’s representational fluency. It intends to characterize how the teacher uses and integrates the different representations provided by the graphing calculator on the process of teaching and learning functions at the high school level. Specifically, it intends to understand the balance established between the use of the different representations, and the way these representations are articulated. The study adopts a qualitative approach undertaking one teacher case study. Data were collected for two school years, at 10th and 11th grades, and included class observation, semi-structured interviews and documents gathering. Data analysis was mainly descriptive and interpretive in nature, considering the problem under study. The conclusions reached reveal an active use of the graphical and algebraic representations and a scarce use of the tabular representation. The lack of balance on the use of representations also includes the work within a representation. In this case the graphical representation is the only one that was explored. The conclusions also indicate a flexible articulation between the two representations usually used. It was possible to identify different patterns on the use of the representations and a frequent use of an interactive approach, marked by repeated alternations between representations. Globally, this study emphasizes teacher’s KTMT and raises questions about the impact of technology on teacher´s representational fluency and about the difference between a numerical and a tabular representation.

Proof plays a central role in developing, establishing, and communicating mathematical knowledge. Nevertheless it is not such a central element in school mathematics. This article discusses some issues involving mathematical proof in school, intending to characterize the understanding of mathematical proof in school, its function and the meaning and relevance attributed to the notion of simple proof. The main conclusions suggest that the idea of addressing mathematical proof at all levels of school is a recent idea that is not yet fully implemented in schools. It requires an adaptation of the understanding of proof to the age of the students, reducing the level of formality, and allowing the students to experience the different functions of proof and not only the function of verification. Among the different functions of proof, the function of explanation deserves special attention due to the illumination and empowerment that it can bring to the students and their learning. The way this function of proof relates to the notion of simple proof (and the related aesthetic issues) seems relevant enough to make it, in the future, a focus of attention for the teachers who address mathematical proof in the classroom.

Teacher education is central to promote the development of the professional knowledge of teachers, and
to help them achieve an appropriate integration of digital technologies, an issue that has proved to be a
difficult one. Several authors refer difficulties in the integration of the technology, emphasizing the central
role played by the teachers’ knowledge in classroom use. In this paper we discuss three models (TPACK
– Technological Pedagogical and Content Knowledge, KTMT – Knowledge for Teaching Mathematics with
Technology, PTK / MPTK - Mathematical Pedagogical Technology Knowledge), intending to identify the
main contributions of each model to a deeper understanding of how to promote the teachers’ integration
of technology in the teaching of Mathematics. The study is based on a literature review and on an analysis
of the similarities and differences among the models and its use. On this analysis we identify common
influences among the models as well as influences from other research areas. The main conclusions
achieved point to a common base to all the models considered, but also to several differences among
them, being that some of the models emphasize the role of technology and its impact on Mathematics
learning, but others go further, intending to integrate in the model elements based on the research on
technology or even other theories such as the one on instrumental genesis.

Knowledge for Teaching Mathematics with Technology (KTMT) is a theoretical model that seeks to articulate previously existing models on professional knowledge and the conclusions that the investigation around the integration of technology has achieved. KTMT is a dynamic knowledge, informed by the practice, that develops from the knowledge on the base domains (Mathematics, Teaching and Learning, Technology and Curriculum), evolving as knowledge in the base domains interacts and as this promotes the development of inter-domain knowledge, which continue to interact, strengthening relations and leading to the development of an integrated knowledge, where knowledge on the base domains and on the two sets of inter-domains appears deeply integrated into a global knowledge.

A tecnologia e o impacto que esta pode ter sobre as diferentes representações utilizadas e, em particular, sobre a representação algébrica são o foco deste artigo. Procura-se assim compreender como é que o professor enquadra a representação algébrica no trabalho em sala de aula e como a procura tornar relevante para os alunos num contexto de utilização da tecnologia. As conclusões alcançadas apontam para a opção por uma estreita articulação entre as representações algébrica e gráfica e para uma criteriosa escolha de tarefas, envolvendo múltiplas abordagens, onde a representação algébrica vem disponibilizar informação fundamental e tendencialmente inacessível a partir de outras representações.

This study intends to analyze the perspectives of teachers of different levels regarding proof and its functions in Mathematics and Mathematics teaching. Adopting a methodology of a qualitative nature, and based on interviews, the perspectives of teachers of upper secondary, higher education and training teachers of Mathematics were collected. The conclusions reached suggest that teachers seem to share a formal conception of mathematical proof, recognizing the need to introduce some simplification when considering proof in Mathematics teaching as well as the importance of their functions of validation, contribution to learning and even a cultural function.

Perante as conhecidas dificuldades em alcançar uma adequada integração da tecnologia no processo de ensino e aprendizagem da Matemática, este estudo pretende, apoiando-se na formação ao nível da tecnologia ministrada em duas instituições europeias, identificar aspetos com potencial para promover a formação inicial, no âmbito da tecnologia, de professores de Matemática. Adota-se uma metodologia de índole qualitativa e interpretativa, sendo os dados recolhidos de natureza documental ou relativos a trabalhos de análise e reflexão crítica realizados por dois futuros professores (um de cada instituição). As principais conclusões alcançadas apontam para grandes diferenças entre os contextos de formação, com uma das instituições a valorizar de forma mais significativa a formação na área. Ainda assim, os futuros professores de ambas as instituições mostram alguma tendência para escolher tarefas onde a exploração que é feita da tecnologia fica aquém do seu potencial, onde o recurso ao papel e lápis está sempre presente, e onde a reflexão em torno das características das tarefas e da sua implementação parece ser algo superficial. Apesar da complexidade do processo de integração da tecnologia nas práticas, os aspetos referidos parecem-nos ser dignos de atenção em qualquer programa de formação inicial de professores de Matemática.