Vi er langt inne i 2019 og vårsolen skinner. Dette begynner å bli litt «gamle nyheter», men sånn er det når bloggosfæren må vike for livet som skjer, elever som utvikler seg og lærerhverdagen. Karlstad Universitets Elisabeth Mellroth forsvarte mandag 10.12.18 sin doktoravhandling «Harnessing teachers’ perspectives: Recognizing mathematically highly able pupils and orchestrating teaching for them in a diverse ability classroom» ved Karlstads universitet.
Avhandlingen består av tre artikler:
- High achiever! Always a high achiever?: A comparison of student achievements on mathematical tests with different aims and goal
- The suitability of rich learning tasks from a pupil perspective.
- Elementary teachers on orchestrating teaching for mathematically highly able pupils.
- Manuscript: Teachers’ views on teaching highly able pupils in diverse ability classroom
Vi var mange som var tilstede og hørte på Elisabeths disputas. Professor Dr. Marianne Nolte (Matematikkdidaktikk, informatikk og begynneropplæring i matematikk) fra Universitetet i Hamburg var opponent. og «betygsnämd» (som det heter i Sverige) bestod av flere svenske forskere (se mer info. på nettsiden til Karlstads universitet her). Avhandlingen til Elisabeth er spennende, og siden vi nå en gang mangler norsk & nordisk forskning når det gjelder elever med stort læringspotensial/evnerike elever er det en glede å dele diverse lenker & sitater her på Krumelurebloggen. Jeg liker hvordan Elisabeth og medforfattere ofte har med seg lærerperspektivet!
Kjære Elisabeth,
Gratulerer igjen med vel gjennomført og takk for at jeg fikk være med på både disputas og den fantastiske Nobelfesten på Kvelden. Du är grymt bra! 🙂
-Kari
Så, er du klar? Her kommer lenker osv. fra Mellroth (2018) «Harnessing teachers’ perspectives: Recognizing mathematically highly able pupils and orchestrating teaching for them in a diverse ability classroom»
There is a lack of research that explores teachers’ perspectives on teaching highly able pupils (HAPs) in the diverse ability classroom. Instead, pupils’ perspectives are common, such studies often concluding that teachers need more professional development or that they fail to support HAPs. Consequently, previous research does not support teachers in how to implement teaching that includes HAPs. This thesis aims to harness teachers’ perspectives of pedagogical possibilities that enable learning opportunities for mathematically highly able pupils (MHAPs). By comparing pupils’ (n=264) relative achievement on two different tests, traditional and non-traditional, the first part of this thesis explores teachers’ possibilities to recognize MHAPs. The results show that pupils who achieved highly on the non-traditional test, but not on the other, have higher problem-solving competence compared to pupils who achieved highly on the traditional test instead. The second part presents a teacher-initiated investigation of pupils’ perceptions of challenging mathematical tasks. The findings indicate that the developed tool can help teachers find suitable tasks for MHAPs. The final part uses positioning theory to analyze teachers’ (N=17) discussions and probe their perceptions on orchestrating teaching MHAPs. The findings show that the teachers have knowledge of how to recognize and support MHAPs. Specifically, the teachers express possibilities with challenging tasks and differentiated education to meet MHAPs’ learning needs. Furthermore, the teachers perceived fewer rights than duties to orchestrate teaching for MHAPs’, for example, to continuously asses them. The studies in this thesis support teachers to orchestrate teaching including MHAPs in the diverse ability classroom. Both practice and research can be guided by what the teachers in these studies perceived as possible to do to orchestrate such teaching. Thereby support is given to teachers, from teachers, through research.
This thesis harnesses teachers’ perspectives of pedagogical possibilities that enable learning opportunities for mathematically highly able pupils (MHAPs). Firstly, teachers’ possibilities to recognize MHAPs through assessment are explored. The results show that pupils with high problem-solving competence can achieve highly on a non-traditional test, whereas they do not on traditional tests. Secondly, a teacher-initiated investigation of pupils’ perceptions of challenging mathematical tasks is presented. The findings indicate that a developed tool can help teachers find suitable tasks for MHAPs. Finally, teachers’ (N=17) discussions are analysed and their perceptions on orchestrating teaching MHAPs are probed. The findings show that the teachers have knowledge of how to recognize and support MHAPs. Specifically, the teachers express possibilities with challenging tasks and differentiated education. Furthermore, the teachers perceived they have knowledge and competence to orchestrate teaching for MHAPs. The findings show that their knowledge is consistent with previous research on teaching highly able pupils (HAPs) to meet their learning needs. This thesis gives support, on orchestrating teaching that includes HAPs in learning, to teachers, from teachers, through research.
Lenke til Mellroth (2018) doktoravhandling. Du finner også abstracts til de inkluderte artiklene på nettsiden.
Artiklene
Mellroth, E. (2014). High achiever! Always a high achiever?: A comparison of student achievements on mathematical tests with different aims and goals. Licentiate thesis, monograph. (her)
This study explored changes in relative achievement over time. It also investigated differences in how two groups of students activate mathematical competencies. The aim of the study was to investigate students’ relative achievement in mathematics over time, and how mathematical competencies can be used to explore differences between groups of students on a non-curriculum based test in mathematics. The study was divided in two parts. Study 1 compared students’ (n=568) relative achievement in two national tests in mathematics (years 3 and 6). Study 1 explored changes in relative achievement between the two national tests as well as differences in relative achievement between the national test in year 6 and the mathematical kangaroo in year 7 (age 13). The study identified, from a sample (n=264) of study 1, two groups of students with high achievements in only one of the tests, the national test in year 6 or the mathematical kangaroo. Study 2 explored how differences between those students relative achievement on the mathematical kangaroo could be explained through activation of mathematical competencies. The results in study 1 show that students undergo large changes, both increases and decreases, in relative achievement between the national tests in years 3 and 6. Study 2 shows how the two identified groups activate the mathematical competencies differently on the mathematical kangaroo. 9% of the students achieve highly in the mathematical kangaroo although they do not in the national test. The study implicates the importance of using non-curriculum bounded tests to identify strength in mathematical competencies among students that not are able to show them through the national test.
Mellroth, E. (2017). The suitability of rich learning tasks from a pupil perspective. CERME 10: Proceedings of the Tenth Congress of European Society for Research in Marhematics Education, European Society for Research in Mathematics Education, 2017, p. 1162-1169Conference paper, Published paper (Refereed). (her)
The construction of tasks is important to challenge pupils, but the exploration of pupils’ perceptions connected to their work with tasks, is rare. This paper presents the results of a study using a tool aimed at measuring pupils’ perception of joy and interest connected to ‘rich learning tasks’ by comparing the views of mathematically promising pupils and others. Two tasks were pre- and postevaluated, the first by 139 and the second by 106 pupils from grade 4-9. The results indicate that the tool is suited for the exploration of pupils’ views, especially as it can be deduced from the comparison that mathematically promising pupils perceived both tasks more positively than the other pupils, and that the non-identified pupils became more positive after working especially with one of the tasks.
Mellroth, E., van Bommel, J., Liljekvist, Y. (2019). Elementary teachers on orchestrating teaching for mathematically highly able pupils. In: The Montana Mathematics Enthusiast, ISSN 1551-3440, E-ISSN 1551-3440, Vol. 16, no 1-3, article id 8. (her)
Studies on high ability in mathematics rarely take a teacher’s perspective. The purpose of our study is to add such a perspective, which we will do by using positioning theory to analyze elementary teachers’ discussions on mathematical tasks, aiming to challenge all pupils, including the highly able. The study is conducted in the context of a two-year long teacher professional development program on high ability. Teachers expressed both their teaching and the mathematical tasks as helpful in orchestrating teaching suitable for highly able pupils. They highlight the opportunities given by some tasks as well as the importance of guiding highly able pupils to go further in such tasks. However, they expressed their own limited mathematical knowledge and time needed for pupils with learning difficulties as obstacles to orchestrate teaching for the highly able. The results show that it is important to, in close cooperation with teachers, further explore how to orchestrate teaching that challenges highly able pupils.
Og sist, men ikke minst: Mellroth, E. (manuscript) Teachers’ views on teaching highly able pupils in diverse ability classroom. Ligger foreløpig ikke på nett.
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