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• Analysis of the affective factors of learning mathematics among teacher trainees

  225-254

  Erzsébet Zsinkó

  Views:

  10

  The Hungarian National Core Curricula gives primacy to the development of abilities and the practical application of knowledge. The task of the training programme is primarily to prepare teacher trainees for the teaching and educating profession. As teachers, they are going to plan, organize, help, guide, control and evaluate the learning of mathematics of individuals and groups of students from the age of 6 to 10 (12), and cultivate their mathematical skills, thinking and positive attitude towards any mathematical activities. In order to train educators who are able to meet the above requirements on high standard, it is necessary to update the teacher training programme based on the trainees' preliminary knowledge and motivation level.
  The key to learn about the child's mind and achieve conscious development is the systematization of factual knowledge and methodological awareness. The modern, flexible approach to subject pedagogy, based on pedagogy, psychology and epistemology, qualifies trainees to educate learners who understand and like mathematics. Therefore, it is essential to develop the trainees' positive approach to mathematics and arouse their demand for continuous professional improvement. (Programme of the four-year primary school teacher training, 1995.)
  In our research we are looking for ways of ascertaining the starting parameters which have influence on the planning of the studies of mathematics and subject pedagogy. In this article we introduce a questionnaire by the means of which we collected information on the trainees' attitude and its changing towards mathematics. With the help of the analysis of the answers we paint a picture of the ELTE TÓFK (Eötvös Loránd University, Faculty of Elementary and Nursery School Teacher's Training) third year students' attitude to the subject, and we compare it to the tendencies noticed in the mass education. The energy invested in learning is influenced by the assumption of the relevance and importance of the subjects. Therefore we considered it also our task to reveal. Besides the students' attitude toward mathematics and their assumption about their own competence we have collected data also on their performance in the subject. Summarising the research results we show the advantages of the questionnaire, and summarise the observations which would indicate need for methodological changes in the mathematics teacher training.

• 14 to 18-year-old Hungarian high-school students' view of mathematicians appearing in the media - a case study

  183-194

  Orsolya Dóra Lócska

  Zoltán Kovács

  Views:

  1

  One way to develop positive attitude toward STEM subjects that popular media, including movies and films can be engaged to promote more positive and inclusive STEM images. The movie Hidden numbers offers an opportunity to explore the representations of scholars, especially mathematicians within a biographical drama. Focusing on 5 characters, this article first discusses whether these characters fit into stereotypical scientist image or not. Secondly, we examine how high school students evaluate these characters. We argue that this movie is suitable to promote positive attitude toward STEM subjects.

• Teachers and the interactive whiteboards

  281-298

  Piroska Biró

  Views:

  8

  The spread of IWB (Interactive WhiteBoard) around the world changes, reforms and modernizes the traditional teaching methods. We can find these new ICT devices in more and more schools in Hungary as well and the use of it is getting widespread in everyday teaching. The teachers have the greatest role in the proper use of IWB during the lessons and they are also responsible for providing students with creative and motivating tasks lesson by lesson. In the following research, the advantages of the IWB are highlighted, the difficulties of its usage and the teachers' attitude towards the new ICT devices by asking 205 teachers from different primary and secondary schools. The results are mainly based on questionnaires.

• Mapping students’ motivation in a problem oriented mathematics classroom

  111-121

  Emőke Báró

  Views:

  55

  This research focuses on mapping students’ motivation by implementing problem-solving activities, namely how the problem-oriented approach affects the students’ commitment, motivation, and attitude to learning. As a practicing teacher, the author faced difficulties with motivation and sought to improve her practice in the form of action research as described in this paper. Based on the literature, the author describes sources of motivation as task interest, social environment, opportunity to discover, knowing why, using objects, and helping others. The author discusses the effect of problem-oriented teaching on the motivation of 7th-grade students. In this paper, the results of two lessons are presented.

  Subject Classification: 97C20, 97D40, 97D50, 97D60

• The effect of augmented reality assisted geometry instruction on students' achiveement and attitudes

  177-193

  Emin İbili

  Sami Şahin

  Views:

  12

  In this study, geometry instruction's academic success for the students and their attitudes towards mathematics which is supported by education materials of Augmented Reality (AR) and its effect on the acceptance of AR and its usage by teachers and students have been researched. Under this research, ARGE3D software has been developed by using augmented reality technology as for the issue of geometric objects that is contained in the mathematics curriculum of 6th class of primary education. It has been provided with this software that three-dimensional static drawings can be displayed in a dynamic and interactive way. The research was conducted in two different schools by an experiment and control group. In the process of data collection, Geometry Achievement Test (GAT), Geometric Reasoning Test (GRT), Attitudes Scale for Mathematics (ASM), students' math lecture notes, semi-structured interviews with teachers and students and observation and video recordings were used. Results showed that geometry instruction with ARGE3D increased students' academic success. In addition, it was found that geometry instruction with ARGE3D became more effective on students' attitudes that had negative attitudes towards mathematics and it also provided support to reduce fear and anxiety.

• Why some children fail? Analyzing a test and the possible signs of learning disorders in an answer sheet: dedicated to the memory of Julianna Szendrei

  251-268

  Katalin Fried

  Views:

  5

  Teachers and educators in mathematics try to uncover the background of the mistakes their students make for their own and their students' benefit. Doing this they can improve their teaching qualities, and help the cognitive development of their pupils. However, this improvement does not always support their students with learning disorders, since their problem is not caused by wrong attitude or lack of diligence. Therefore, it is the interest of a conscientious teacher to recognize whether the weaker performance of a student is caused by learning disorders, so the helping teacher can give useful advices. Although the teacher is not entirely responsible for the diagnosis, but (s)he should be be familiar with the possible symptoms in order to make suggestions whether or not to take the necessary test of the learning disorders.
  In this article, through examining a test and the answer sheet of a single student, I show some signs that might be caused by learning disorders.

• Blind versus wise use of CAS

  407-417

  Zoltán Kovács

  Views:

  1

  During my courses for mathematics major students I often use technology linked to the arising problems. In such cases I noted that some students were used to learn just some procedures, which made them able to solve (partially) some problems and when they got the result, they accepted it passively and did not relate it to the initial problem.
  In this paper I outline a strategy and investigate some simple exercises about how to develop a critical attitude towards the results obtained by technology in an introductory course to CAS.
  I believe that wise use of technology offers an effective method in teaching mathematics, without reducing the students' mental contribution.

• Writing a textbook – as we do it

  185-201

  István Czeglédy

  András Kovács

  Views:

  5

  Recent surveys studying mathematics teaching show that there is a great variety in the level of mathematics teaching in Hungary. To increase efficiency (and decrease differences between schools) it is essential to create textbooks with new attitudes. The experiment we started after the PISA survey of 2000, produced a textbook that is new, in some sense even unusual in its attitude and methods. This paper presents the experiences we gained in the course of this work.