The "Third Wave": Values associated with Effective Learning of Mathematics in Australian Primary Classrooms

( Wee Tiong Seah ) 한국수학교육학회 2010 수학교육 프로시딩 Vol.44 No.-

Giving Flesh and Emotions to Cold, Hard Quantitative Data

( Seah Wee Tiong ) 한국수학교육학회 2017 수학교육 학술지 Vol.2017 No.2

The collection, analysis and interpretation of quantitative data are often thought of as being objective and impartial. The same process and consideration are expected to apply to different research situations. As wrote, “by remaining several steps removed from the people from whom the data has been obtained, … quantitative researchers argue that they are upholding research standards that are at once empirically rigorous, impartial, and objective” (Rao& Woolcock, 2003, p. 166). More recently, however, both these claims to validity and reliability are being challenged. For example, how are the results valid when they do not take into account cultural idiosyncrasies and relativity? Also, isn`t a study still replicable if adjustments for cultural factors are explicitly and openly listed? In this workshop, participants will examine a few examples of quantitative studies where the strength in the findings would have been boosted further if cultural factors were taken into account. Participants will also discuss and explore ways in which quantitative data can be collected, analysed and interpreted in ways which are culturally sensitive, thus optimising research strength.

Values in Mathematics Education: Its Conative Nature, and How It Can Be Developed

( Wee Tiong Seah ) 한국수학교육학회 2019 수학교육연구 Vol.22 No.2

This article looks back and also looks forward at the values aspect of school mathematics teaching and learning. Looking back, it draws on existing academic knowledge to explain why the values construct has been regarded in recent writings as a conative variable, that is, associated with willingness and motivation. The discussion highlights the tripartite model of the human mind which was first conceptualised in the eighteenth century, emphasising the intertwined and mutually enabling processes of cognition, affect, and conation. The article also discusses what we already know about the nature of values, which suggests that values are both consistent and malleable. The trend in mathematics educational research into values over the last three decades or so is outlined. These allow for an updated definition of values in mathematics education to be offered in this article. Considering the categories of values that might be found in mathematics classrooms, an argument is also made for more attention to be paid to general educational values. After all, the potential of the values construct in mathematics education research extends beyond student understanding of and performance in mathematics, to realising an ethical mathematics education which is important for thriveability in the Fourth Industrial Revolution. Looking ahead, then, this article outlines a 4-step values development approach for implementation in the classroom, involving Justifying, Essaying, Declaring, and Identifying. With an acronym of JEDI, this novel approach has been informed by the theories of ‘saying is believing’, self-persuasion, insufficient justification, and abstract construals.

Reimagining Mathematics Education for the 21st Century in the 21st Century

Wee Tiong Seah,김희정,김동중 대한수학교육학회 2021 수학교육학연구 Vol.31 No.3

The 21st Century is characterised by technological advances which is the Fourth Industrial Revolution, climate change, and the COVID19 pandemic, for examples. The role of mathematics in each of these phenomena has been central and crucial. As such, it is an opportune time now to take stock of events that are (re-)shaping the world, so that we can better facilitate mathematics education in schools. Three themes are identified and discussed in this article, namely the convergence of mathematics pedagogical approaches, mathematics proficiencies, and students’ mathematical wellbeing.

The Future of Mathematics Education in a Multipolar World

( Seah Wee Tiong ) 한국수학교육학회 2017 수학교육 학술지 Vol.2017 No.2

In the last 200 years or so, developments in the world`s business and economics, fashion, media, science and technology, and even (mathematics) educational approaches had been led by Western thinkers and scientists. As the world becomes multipolar, it is timely to consider how the nature of research academic work and students` mathematics learning experience might evolve. This paper considers how the mathematics education research communities inside and outside the highperforming East Asian economies might go about sharing and adapting/adopting respectively teaching practices which appear to contribute to student performance in mathematics. The meaningful sharing of teaching practices in the new, multipolar world would also highlight the need to acknowledge the sociocultural aspect of mathematics education. Another aspect of mathematics education research which has become more significant is the valuing of particular teaching and learning activity. Indeed, there is a greater need now than ever before for the research community to make sense of - and benefit from - mathematics learning/teaching contexts from the sociocultural perspective, at the same time complementing traditionally popular cognitive and affective perspectives of mathematics pedagogy with the conative.

The “Third Wave”: Values associated with Effective Learning of Mathematics in Australian Primary Classrooms

( Wee Tiong Seah ) 한국수학교육학회 2010 수학교육연구 Vol.14 No.2

Student talk in large-size mathematics classrooms: a case study of a sequence of ten consecutive lessons in China

Lianchun Dong,Wee Tiong Seah,Yiming Cao,David Clarke 서울대학교 교육연구소 2019 Asia Pacific Education Review Vol.20 No.3

This study aims to reveal features of student talk over a sequence of consecutive mathematics lessons in a large-size class in mainland China. By examining the time allocation for student talk and the number of Chinese characters spoken by the students, this study finds that, in some of the lessons observed, student talk added up to a longer duration and included a larger number of Chinese characters than teacher talk. But individual students were observed to have unequal opportunities to participate in public talk and there is a large gap regarding the number of Chinese characters that an individual student could speak in public. Each individual student’s accountability to talk was recorded to be less diverse in public presentation than in non-presentation contexts (e.g., answering teacher questions). This study suggests that a unit of consecutive lessons can help a clearer and more comprehensive observation and analysis of student talk.

한국 학생들의 수학과 수학 학습에 대한 가치 인식: 초등학교 6학년과 중학교 3학년을 중심으로

방정숙 ( Pang Jeongsuk ),조수윤 ( Cho Sooyun ),( Seah Wee Tiong ) 한국수학교육학회 2016 수학교육 Vol.55 No.4

What an individual values and regards as important has a significant impact on his or her learning. Classroom instruction would be even more effective if what the teacher regards as important in his or her pedagogical practice are aligned with what students regard as important too. Given this background, this study sought to find out what Korean students valued about mathematics and mathematics learning using a questionnaire developed by Seah (2005). The participants were 409 students from Grade 6 and 407 students from Grade 9 in Korea. The results of this study showed that students put the biggest emphasis on ideological aspects of mathematics, specifically rationalism, among mathematical values. The students also valued product, computation, process, exposition, and recalling among values related to the learning of mathematics. A comparative analysis between the two groups of students showed that sixth graders tended to think more positively with regards to each value than ninth graders. On the basis of these results, this paper raises some issues about students` values in mathematics learning. It also suggests that teachers need to consider what students value and regard as important in their mathematics learning to bring about even more effective instruction.