ERIC Number: EJ1061199
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2015
Pages: 21
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-0020-739X
EISSN: N/A
Mexican High School Students' Social Representations of Mathematics, Its Teaching and Learning
Martínez-Sierra, Gustavo; Miranda-Tirado, Marisa
International Journal of Mathematical Education in Science and Technology, v46 n5 p700-720 2015
This paper reports a qualitative research that identifies Mexican high school students' social representations of mathematics. For this purpose, the social representations of "mathematics", "learning mathematics" and "teaching mathematics" were identified in a group of 50 students. Focus group interviews were carried out in order to obtain the data. The constant comparative style was the strategy used for the data analysis because it allowed the categories to emerge from the data. The students' social representations are: (A) Mathematics is…(1) important for daily life, (2) important for careers and for life, (3) important because it is in everything that surrounds us, (4) a way to solve problems of daily life, (5) calculations and operations with numbers, (6) complex and difficult, (7) exact and (6) a subject that develops thinking skills; (B) To learn mathematics is…(1) to possess knowledge to solve problems, (2) to be able to solve everyday problems, (3) to be able to make calculations and operations, and (4) to think logically to be able to solve problems; and (C) To teach mathematics is…(1) to transmit knowledge, (2) to know to share it, (3) to transmit the reasoning ability, and (4) to show how to solve problems.
Descriptors: Foreign Countries, High School Students, Mathematics Instruction, Mathematical Concepts, Focus Groups, Comparative Analysis, Student Attitudes, Social Influences, Relevance (Education), Attitude Measures, Problem Solving, Computation, Difficulty Level, Thinking Skills, Logical Thinking, Knowledge Level, Late Adolescents, Secondary School Mathematics, Qualitative Research
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Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Research
Education Level: High Schools; Secondary Education
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Identifiers - Location: Mexico
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A