USING NARRATIVES AS INNOVATIVE TOOLS IN

MATHEMATICS EDUCATION COURSE

IN FINNISH TEACHER EDUCATION

 Sonja Lutovac1 & Raimo Kaasila2

University of Maribor1, Slovenia University of Lapland2, FinlandInternational Conference – DECOWE

24-26 September 2009, University of Ljubljana, Slovenia

TEACHER EDUCATION IN FINLAND Great sucess of Finish pupils at PISA

evaluations. How are conducted teacher education

programs in Finland? - research-based and

collaborative oriented education - high societal status of Finnish

teachers - enrollment of highly motivated

students - culture of trust

International Conference – DECOWE, 24-26 September 2009, University of Ljubljana, Slovenia

MATHEMATICS EDUCATION COURSES IN ELEMENTARY TEACHER EDUCATION PROGRAM Focused on future teachers’ needs.

Their main aim is to improve students’ pedagogical subject knowledge.

Strong emphasis is also on teachers personal beliefs and experiences, which together with professional knowledge construct “teacher knowledge” (cf. Connelly and Clandinin, 2000). International Conference – DECOWE,

24-26 September 2009, University of Ljubljana, Slovenia

NARRATIVES IN TEACHING, LEARNING AND RESEARCH Narratives has been used as a

methodological approach in research of educational experience (Connelly & Clandinin,

1990), but also as pedagogical tools for facilitating students’ views.

“Humans are storytelling organisms who, individually and socially, lead storied lives” (Connelly & Clandinin 1990, p. 2).

The study of narrative is the study of the ways humans experience the world. International Conference – DECOWE,

24-26 September 2009, University of Ljubljana, Slovenia

What is narrative?

Narrative is a story that has a beginning, middle and an end; and is held together by a series of organized events, called plots (see, e.g. Gudmundsdottir, 1995; Kaasila 2007).

Analogously, Polkinghorne (1995) names a particular kind of configuration that generates a story “emplotment”.

Emplotment is producing a meaning to the story.

 International Conference – DECOWE,

24-26 September 2009, University of Ljubljana, Slovenia

Why do narratives have importance in teacher education? Sfard and Prusak (2005, 16, 21) define

identities as “collections of stories about persons”

Issues of professional knowledge and practice are deeply entwined with each individual teacher’s past experiences and future goals and with their identities (Connelly and Clandinin, 2000).

The importance of the concept of professional identity lies in the assumption that “who we think we are influences what we do” (Watson, 2006).

  

International Conference – DECOWE, 24-26 September 2009, University of Ljubljana, Slovenia

MAIN CONCEPTS OF THE STUDY

1 Mathematical (auto)biography Mathematical autobiography is

person’s own story, that often involves personally meaningful episodes, important persons (role models), explanations, ....

Mathematical biography is a life story, constructed by a researcher and a participant. (see also Kaasila, 2007)

International Conference – DECOWE, 24-26 September 2009, University of Ljubljana, Slovenia

2 Mathematical biography and Mathematical identity Mathematical biography offers

retrospective explanation of influence on mathematical identity (cf. Polkinghorne, 1995, Kaasila 2007).

Mathematical biography is meaningful for pre-service teachers’ development as future mathematics teachers and for development of pre-service teachers’ sense of identity.

Two ways to deal with negative experiences and emotions by handling elementary pre-service teachers memories from their years at school:

1) narrative rehabilitation 2) autobiographical interviews.

3 Narrative rehabilitation pre-service teachers were offered

opportunities to tell stories about their school time memories and share their experiences with other in smaller groups.

Reflecting occasions and an insight that the interpretation can be changed can free them to search new aspects into their mathematical past and future. (Kaasila 2000, cf. Valkonen 1997)

 International Conference – DECOWE,

24-26 September 2009, University of Ljubljana, Slovenia

4 Autobiographical interviews

The aim of the narrative interviews is for participants to tell stories about experiences and persons that are important to them.

Open questions usually elicit narratives: the open-ended prompt “tell me …”

The main aim of the use of narrative interviews was to start up pre-service teachers identity work so that they entered into a dialogue between their past, present and future mathematical identity.International Conference – DECOWE,

24-26 September 2009, University of Ljubljana, Slovenia

THE FOCUS OF THE STUDY The aim of our study is to describe how to

reduce negative emotions towards mathematics by handling elementary pre-service teachers’ memories from their years at school.

The ways we used here are 1) autobiographical, narrative interview and 2) ‘narrative rehabilitation’.

Our research data consist of six pre-service teachers’ interviews conducted in Spring 2009.

Here we will through Ulla’s mathematical biography present how these two ways did influence her mathematical identity.

ULLA’S CASE: How did Ulla’s identity work begin? Ulla is a second year student of

Elementary teacher education (one of the six participants in the study).

Interview was conducted after Mathematics didactics course and teaching experience in Mathematics.

Ulla’s biography: Needed encouragement, resigned

Motto: “ I was really happy that first we.. were discussing about our experiences in math...”

International Conference – DECOWE, 24-26 September 2009, University of Ljubljana, Slovenia

Ulla had many negative experiences and emotions during her schooling.

It seems that teachers are the main characters in her negative experiences with mathematics:

»I think I didn't get the help from the teacher that I needed. I started to think, well I don't care about math and it’s ok to have one subject in which you are not so good. […] Of course if you have some difficulties it gets more challenging and then it's easier to give up [...]. In that way, the teacher should encourage students.«

she developed negative attitudes towards math and completely gave up on it.

Ulla’s experiences with mathematics during her school years

International Conference – DECOWE, 24-26 September 2009, University of Ljubljana, Slovenia

Belief of “not being able to succeed in math ever” was strongly present in her identity talk.

In upper secondary school, she experienced first positive change due to the teacher:

»I think she was a first teacher for a long time that actually believed in me and she actually said...you can, you can do this [...] and she did not make me feel stupid«.

Ulla’s negative attitudes towards math returned due to the new math teacher.

International Conference – DECOWE, 24-26 September 2009, University of Ljubljana, Slovenia

Ulla’s experiences with mathematics at University About Mathematics didactics course

and professor Ulla had said:“I liked his methods very much, but I was

really happy that first we...we started that we were discussing about our experiences in math...and that was really like...for me it was really important and I didn't expect that we would do that kind of things«.

She emphasized the role of narrative rehabilitation applied during the course. 

International Conference – DECOWE, 24-26 September 2009, University of Ljubljana, Slovenia

Being encouraged to discuss about her prior experiences and realization of not being the only one with this kind of experiences elicited more positive attitudes.

As a result of narrative rehabilitation she sees also benefits about her negative experiences:

»At least that I can understand students that have difficulties in math and that I know myself how to deal with those students, how to teach them. I would like to encourage them...all of them«.

International Conference – DECOWE, 24-26 September 2009, University of Ljubljana, Slovenia

DISCUSSIONThe use of narratives as tools in mathematics

education course is it two folded:1)Narratives in mathematics education course

serve as rehabilitation of negative views that pre-service teachers carry with them from their previous school years.

2) Through autobiographical interview conducted here, we can see the development of Ulla’s mathematical identity. All Ulla’s past experiences influenced her past and present mathematical identity. International Conference – DECOWE,

24-26 September 2009, University of Ljubljana, Slovenia

Ulla’s past and present mathematical identity have influence on her future one, especially on her view of herself as a mathematics teacher and on her future practice.

According to our study there is a link between professional identity and professional action; therefore mathematical identities can be seen as closely connected to mathematical practice. (cf. Watson, 2006)

International Conference – DECOWE, 24-26 September 2009, University of Ljubljana, Slovenia

Narratives provide a reflective way of knowing, which is widely accepted as a central goal in teacher education, also in Finland.

(see also Chapman, 2008)

It is especially important to emphasize narratives during mathematics education courses.

Courses should not only focus on future teachers’ professional knowledge, but also on their personal beliefs and experiences.

International Conference – DECOWE, 24-26 September 2009, University of Ljubljana, Slovenia

MAIN REFERENCES Bruner, J.S. (1986). Actual minds, possible worlds.

Cambridge, MA : Harvard University Press. Chapman, O. (2008). Narratives in mathematics teacher

education. In: D. Tirosh and T. Wood (eds.), The International Handbook of mathematics teacher education: Tools and processes in mathematics teacher education (15-38). Rotterdam/Taipei: Sense Publishers.

Connely, F.M. and Clandinin, D.J (1990). Stories of experience and narrative inquiry. Educational Researcher, 9(5), 2-14.

Kaasila, R. (2007). Using narrative inquiry for investigating the becoming of a mathematics teacher. ZDM Mathematics Education, 39, 205-213.

Ricoeur, P. (1992). Oneself as Another. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press.

Polkinghorne, D.E. (1995). Narrative configuration in qualitative analysis. International Journal of qualitative studies in Education, 8(1), 12-28.

Valkonen, J. (1997). Tarinalisuus kuntoutuksessa. [Narrative in rehabilitation]. Psykologia, 6, 415-426.

International Conference – DECOWE, 24-26 September 2009, University of Ljubljana, Slovenia