(2015) offer a theoretical tool in their notion of mathematics as revelation, which stands in-between creation and discovery, hinting at both the surprising ...
REFLECTING TEAMS FOR DEVELOPING STUDENT SENSITIVITY IN MATHEMATICAL NOTICING Caroline Yoon, Sze Looi Chin, John Griffith Moala, & Jean-François Maheux University of Auckland Mason (2003) proposes that mathematics learning involves developing one’s sensitivity to noticing. But how can students develop such sensitivity when they work on messy, chaotic, open-ended mathematical modelling tasks? Roth and Maheux (2015) offer a theoretical tool in their notion of mathematics as revelation, which stands in-between creation and discovery, hinting at both the surprising appearance of something unseen that nevertheless was already there, and the creative process of bringing into being something new out of what was already known. We present a novel approach for developing students’ sensitivity to mathematical noticing using “reflecting teams” (Paré, 2016), a format originating from family therapy practice. In this format, skilled observers watch students working on an open-ended modelling activity. The observers then engage in conversation about the mathematics they noticed from the students session, while the students “eavesdrop” on the conversation. Finally, the students reflect together on the mathematics raised in the observers’ conversation. This format exposes students to accounts of their mathematical work, allowing them to experience new forms of awareness in which they see what was already there in new ways, facilitating the dynamic of revelation. We developed this approach in a design based research project involving 51 students from secondary school, undergraduate, and post-secondary pre-degree bridging courses in Australasia. Students worked on open-ended modelling activities in teams of three, and then engaged in 1-hour long reflection sessions that were designed, tested and refined over more than 20 design cycles. In our presentation, we describe the design of our reflection sessions, present research findings on students’ raised awareness following this design, and discuss differences in language and power dynamics from enhancing noticing through student revelation versus presenting expert-generated insights. References Mason, J. (2003). On the structure of attention in the learning of mathematics. The Australian Mathematics Teacher, 59(4), 17. Paré, D. A. (1999). Using Reflecting Teams in Clinical Training. Canadian Journal of counselling, 33(4), 293-306. Roth, W. M., & Maheux, J. F. (2015). The visible and the invisible: mathematics as revelation. Educational Studies in Mathematics, 88(2), 221-238.
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1-295 2017. In Kaur, B., Ho, W.K., Toh, T.L., & Choy, B.H. (Eds.). Proceedings of the 41st Conference of the International Group for the Psychology of Mathematics Education, Vol. 1, p. 295. Singapore: PME.
