Conference paper
The Tensions that Motivate Experienced Mathematicians to Move from the Mathematics Department to the Education Department
Meanjin Delta 2025 Proceedings: The 15th Southern Hemisphere Conference on the teaching and learning of undergraduate mathematics and statistics, pp.168-168
Southern Hemisphere Conference on the Teaching and Learning of Undergraduate Mathematics and Statistics, 15th (Brisbane, Australia, 24-Nov-2025–28-Nov-2025)
University of Queensland
2025
Abstract
In Australian universities, as in many parts of the world, initial teacher education is shaped by strong disciplinary boundaries. When secondary preservice mathematics teachers are taught mathematics in the mathematics department and how to teach mathematics in the education department, they report conflicting practices due to the differing beliefs and teaching approaches of the mathematicians and mathematics educators (Marshman, 2021). Mathematicians and mathematics educators have different disciplinary ontological, epistemological, and methodological approaches that influence their research and teaching (Fried, 2014) and create boundaries. Boundaries mark “sociocultural difference leading to discontinuity in action or interaction” (Akkerman & Bakker, 2011, p. 133). Whilst many preservice teachers perceive advanced mathematics courses as having limited practical value, Wasserman et al. (2018), described, four key types of connections that can be made between school-level and advanced mathematics: content connections, disciplinary connections (the mathematical processes and ways of thinking), classroom teaching connections (such as designing problems with elegant solutions and linking to algebraic structures), and modelled instruction connections (technology use, inquiry-based approaches, and collaborative learning). Occasionally mathematicians reposition themselves, crossing the boundary from the mathematics department (teaching mathematics) to the education department (teaching how to teach mathematics). This multi-case study explored the tensions described by two experienced mathematicians that led them to accept education department leadership positions and what they believed were the most important aspects of mathematics that mathematics teachers needed. Using Valsiner’s zone theory (Valsiner, 1997) to analyse interviews with the mathematics teacher educators in which they described how preservice mathematics teachers needed more than just mathematics knowledge; preservice teachers also needed to experience mathematics as it was practiced (disciplinary connections) and to see mathematics taught using a variety of pedagogies and technologies (modelled instruction connections). These findings suggest that mathematics teachers need an understanding of how mathematicians do mathematics to inform their teaching.
Details
- Title
- The Tensions that Motivate Experienced Mathematicians to Move from the Mathematics Department to the Education Department
- Authors
- Margaret Marshman (Presenter) - University of the Sunshine Coast, Queensland, School of Education and Tertiary Access
- Contributors
- Jim Pettigrew (Editor)Amanda Shaker (Editor)Don Shearman (Editor)
- Publication details
- Meanjin Delta 2025 Proceedings: The 15th Southern Hemisphere Conference on the teaching and learning of undergraduate mathematics and statistics, pp.168-168
- Conference details
- Southern Hemisphere Conference on the Teaching and Learning of Undergraduate Mathematics and Statistics, 15th (Brisbane, Australia, 24-Nov-2025–28-Nov-2025)
- Publisher
- University of Queensland
- Date published
- 2025
- DOI
- 10.14264/e8ffd2a
- Organisation Unit
- School of Education and Tertiary Access
- Language
- English
- Record Identifier
- 991199049202621
- Output Type
- Conference paper
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