Research On The Development Of Junior Middle School Mathematics Teachers' Conception In An Online Teacher Education Program Based On The History Of Mathematics

This is an empirical study of using history of mathematics in mathematics education.It focuses on the influence of history of mathematics on the in-service junior middle school teachers' conception of mathematics and mathematics teaching.To this end,an online teacher education program based on the history of mathematics for in-service mathematics teachers in junior middle school was designed and implemented.It had been lasted for one year,in which teachers learned the history of nine topics and discussed the teaching of these topics.The research questions are:(0)if there due to the in-service teacher education program are any changes in the participating teachers' conception of mathematics and mathematics teaching? If so:(1a)what is the change in the content of teachers' conception of mathematics?(1b)What is the change in the way teachers hold their conception of mathematics?(2a)what is the change in the content of teachers' conception of mathematics teaching?(2b)What is the change in the way teachers hold their conception of mathematics teaching?(3)How does the change of teachers' conception of mathematics relate with their conception of mathematics teaching? How does the change relate with the history of mathematics?Various data were collected,including Likert questionnaires,open questionnaire,reflection tasks for 9 topics and follow-up interviews,3 teachers' teaching plans,semi-structured interviews,etc.Two levels — all the teachers who joined in this program and 3 cases — are integrated to answer research question 1 and 2.The overall analysis is used to explore the trend of the change of teachers' conception and the individual analysis is helpful to deep into details.Research question 3 relates closely with specific situations,so it is only answered with cases.The mixed research method is used to analyze the change of all teachers' conception,and the case study is used to analyze the change of the 3 teachers' conception.It is found that teachers are more in favor of the Platonist view and the problem-solving view,less convinced of the instrumentalist view.Teachers also emphasize more on conceptual understanding and learners in mathematics teaching,less on performance.To be specific,the change of teachers' conception of mathematics happens in the following aspects: teachers hold a more dynamic mathematics view;teachers tend to think that the application of mathematical thinking is also a kind of application of mathematics;teachers tend to deny mathematics is a set of unrelated rules and fact.The change of the way teachers hold their conception of mathematics embodies in the higher elucidation,exemplification,justification and consistency.The change of teachers' conception of mathematics teaching happens in the following aspects: deepen the "double base" goal;attach more importance to the affection goals;respect and value students' idea;emphasize students' active participation and thinking;modify or enrich the textbook.Teachers hold their conception of mathematics teaching with more examples,higher justification,execution and connection,as well as less contradiction.This study illustrates the influences of the online teacher education program based on history of mathematics on teachers' conception from two aspects: the history of mathematics(enumeration history,evolution history)and HPM lesson implementation and observation.The theoretical innovation of this study is to explore the influence of the history of mathematics on mathematics teachers' conception from both the content of conception and the way they are hold,paying attention to the conception of mathematics teaching that are less involved in the field of history and pedagogy,as well as the relationship between the conception of mathematics and mathematics teaching.The practical innovation is to design and implement a teacher education program that can be popularized to develop in-service junior middle school mathematics teachers' conception,to extend the influence of the history of mathematics on teachers' professional development with the help of digital technology,and to provide a prototype for the "Internet + teacher education".