Keynote Speakers – Trends in Mathematics Education Research

Lara Alcock (UK)

Plenary Lecture: Eye Tracking in Mathematics Education

Abstract: This talk will discuss practical, methodological and theoretical issues relevant to eye tracking in mathematics education research. It will demonstrate the data that eye-trackers provide, explain how these data can be used in research, and consider theoretical underpinnings of claims relating eye movements to cognitive processes. It will centre on the question of what eye-movement analyses can tell us, what they cannot tell us, and how they might effectively be used alongside other research methods. Specifically, it will consider approaches to study design, various ways in which researchers have related complex eye-movement data to theoretical claims, and standards in reporting. Throughout, the arguments considered will be related to specific studies in mathematics education, showcasing a range of ways in which researchers have operationalised constructs of interest and investigated them using eye movements.

Matthew Inglis (UK)

Plenary Lecture: Five decades of mathematics education research

Abstract: Mathematics educators have been publishing their work in international research journals for five decades. How has the field developed over this period? In this talk I report an analysis of the full text of all articles published in Educational Studies in Mathematics and the Journal for Research in Mathematics Education since their foundation. Using Lakatos’s notion of a research programme, I focus on the field’s changing theoretical orientations, and pay particular attention to the relative prominence of the experimental psychology, constructivist and sociocultural programmes. I quantitatively assess the extent of the ‘social turn’, observe that the field is currently experiencing a period of theoretical diversity, and identify and discuss the ‘experimental cliff’, a period during which experimental investigations migrated away from mathematics education journals.

Workshop: Eye Tracking in Mathematics Education

Abstract: In this workshop I will discuss how eye tracking can be used to help us understand students’ mathematical thinking. I will give some examples from my own work, and the work of others, and discuss the kind of inferences that can be made with eye tracking data that are hard to make with traditional data.

Jarmila Novotná (Czech Republic)

The plenary lecture is cancelled.

Edyta Nowinska (Germany)

Workshop: Metacognitive support in class discussions – research problems, research methods

Abstract: Supporting students’ metacognition is regarded both as an important goal of teaching and as a means to enhance teaching effectiveness. Researchers’ recommendation for the metacognitive support stress the crucial role of engaging students in metacognition, particularly in class discussions.

In the workshop, I explain the meaning of metacognition and metacognitive support in class discussion, provide examples of metacognitive activities and explain the importance of research on metacognition in mathematics education. The workshop also discusses examples of research problems related to metacognitive support and methodological obstacles in analyzing it in class discussions.

Benjamin Rott (Germany)

Plenary Lecture: Research on mathematical problem solving – Quo Vadis?

Abstract: Technical progress has always influenced empirical educational research. In the 1960s it was the first sound recording devices and in the 1980s the first static video cameras that made process data accessible for more systematic evaluation. Today, mobile cameras, teaching-learning laboratories, and eye-tracking glasses are available that allow more, newer, and more precise data to be collected. There are also possibilities for computer-assisted evaluations based on self-learning algorithms. In addition to the influences on the work of researchers mentioned, new technologies can also influence the processes of problem-solvers: Among other things, there are apps to promote self-regulation as well as spreadsheet and dynamic geometry software that enable new approaches and heurisms and thus help able to discover connections and make assumptions.In this talk, I will take a look at recent developments in research on problem solving, discussing opportunities and risks of new technologies.

Naďa Vondrová (Czech Republic)

Plenary lecture: Parameters influencing the difficulty of mathematical word problems

Abstract: The lecture will report on wide research, carried out by a team of researchers from mathematics education, linguistics, psychology and pedagogy, which focused on the question as to which of the aspects related to the structure of word problems can increase their difficulty, to what extent and why. The research consisted of both the quantitative (a didactic test) and qualitative parts (task-based interviews). The linguistic, mathematical and psychological variables/parameters present in the text of word problems were investigated. Out of a wide range of attributes which characterise word problems as a specific genre/type of communication, eight variables were selected for further examination. The research sample consisted of primary school pupils from Grade 3 to Grade 9. There were six rounds of testing. The total of 3 300 pupils provided solutions of 11 000 tests, with four to six word problems each. Variants of word problems were formulated, differing in one or two variables. Each variant was solved by one of the four equally able groups determined with the use of techniques of the Item Response Theory. The lecture will pay attention both to the methodology and (selected) results.