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Pedagogical content knowledge and the use of examples for teaching ratio
The upper years of primary school are critical in students’ mathematical development. One of the most important concepts is proportional reasoning, which builds upon the foundation of multiplicative thinking, and is central to work in fractions and ratio. To build this understanding in the classroom, teachers need appropriate pedagogical content knowledge (PCK) to choose suitable representations and explanations that highlight mathematical concepts in a meaningful way for students. This PCK is particularly evident in the examples that teachers choose (a) to illustrate concepts initially, and (b) for students to work on during consolidation. This paper presents case studies of two Grade 6 teachers, each giving two lessons on ratio. A framework, derived from the literature, is used to examine the PCK held by the teachers. We focus closely on the examples used by the teachers, since their choice of numerical values, the contexts used, the appropriateness of the example for students, and the aspects of the example highlighted during teaching give insight into teachers’ PCK. Both teachers made appropriate numerical choices, but one made much stronger connections to other aspects of mathematics, gave more relevant contexts, and selected problems that better matched her students’ ability.
History
Publication title
Proceedings of the 2007 AARE International Educational Research ConferenceEditors
P. JeffreyPagination
1-15ISSN
1324-9339Department/School
Faculty of EducationPublisher
Australian Association for Research in EducationPlace of publication
OnlineEvent title
AARE 2007 International Educational Research ConferenceEvent Venue
Fremantle, Western AustraliaDate of Event (Start Date)
2007-11-01Date of Event (End Date)
2007-11-01Repository Status
- Restricted