The power of Colombian mathematic teachers’ conceptions of social/institutional factors

of teaching

For assignment 3, I have chosen this journal by Cecilia Agudelo – Valderrama.

She had done a research on Colombian Mathematics teachers’ conceptions of their own
teaching practices of beginning algebra, which led to the development of a theoretical
model of teachers’ thought structures designed as a thinking tool at the initial stage of the
study. With a focus on the perspectives of teachers, the study investigated the relationship
between the teachers’ conceptions of beginning algebra and their conceptions of their
own teaching practices, with a view to unraveling their conceptions of change in their
practices. Significant findings which threw light on the aforementioned relationship have
been presented in Agudelo – Valderrama, Clarke and Bishop (2007), highlighting a direct
association between a teacher’s conceptions of the nature of beginning algebra, the
crucial determinant of her/his practice, and her/his attitude to change. After an overview
of the study, this paper focuses on specific evidence which clearly shows that in contrast
to the strong relationship between a teacher’s conceptions of mathematics and her/his
teaching practice, assumed in the theoretical model of teachers’ thought structures, the
teachers see a strong relationship between their conceptions of social/institutional factors
of teaching and what they do in their teaching. Implications of the findings for teacher
education in Colombia are identified.

The findings
The findings are based on the cases of Pablo, Nora, Luis, Alex and Pacho because
after carrying out the case studies of the nine initially selected teachers, they were in turn,
identified as representatives of the variety of conceptions and teaching experiences
present in the group of nine. As the evidence showed that, in explaining their own
teaching practice, the teachers emphasized the crucial factors determining their teaching,
the following subsections are organized to illustrate the relationship between teachers’
conceptions of beginning algebra and their conceptions of the determinants of their
teaching practices.

3.2.1 The teachers’ conceptions of beginning algebra

From this journal, each teacher has their own view. I could say that each own
them has their own stand while the researcher done the research with them. From my
point of view, the teachers in Malaysia could practice these Colombians belief. For Nora,
Luis, Alex and Pacho, the central reason why pupils need to learn school algebra was
because it is prerequisite knowledge needed in the nex school levels and in higher
education. For Pablo, in contrast, “school algebra represents important knowledge for
real understanding real-life situations”. He argued that without the pupil’s identification
of connections between their “daily life experiences and mathematics”, they would see no
point in learning it. I would agree that if when studying mathematics, one does not find
connections with the world then it does not have meaning; one finds no reason to study
it…”

In this journal also, it also considering the teaching style priorities of the
Colombian teachers. For Pablo, he wanted to engage the pupils in the generation of
algebraic expressions and the rules to operate with them, through engagement in
activities that he designed. There is another way that the Malaysian teachers can try
which done by Nora, Luis and Pacho which is the pupils learn by being told how to
follow the steps of a given procedure. What I could say is that, the Colombian
mathematics teachers also seem like practicing same way with the Malaysian
mathematics do with their pupils. For Pacho, he puts forward a transmissive and
mechanics approach, but he strongly defended an extremist position as he planed great
emphasis on a ‘spoon-feeding’ approach and the following of a specific textbook,
sequence in a predetermined ‘step-by-step’ fashion.

Assessing pupils work. These Colombian mathematics teachers, Nora, Luis, Alex
and Pacho