Assignment Task

Brief Description

Draw on mathematics education literature to inform the reader what the research has to say about the teaching and learning of a particular mathematical concept within algebraic thinking and function (teacher journal article and associated poster).

You are to draw on reading of mathematics education literature to:

A: Write a teacher journal article conveying what the mathematics education literature tells us about teaching and/or learning on one key ‘issue’ within algebraic thinking and function in Years.

B: Use your teacher journal article to create a ‘mathematics teacher staffroom` poster to convey key messages to colleagues intended to inform and influence future practice, and encourage reading of your article.

Journal article

In an article intended for a mathematics teacher audience, you will demonstrate knowledge of mathematics teaching and learning as you inform the reader, raising awareness of what is known, and provide advice for teachers as to productive approaches to teaching and/or learning supporting deep understanding.

You might focus on key ideas, connections, known difficulties and partial or misconceptions related to your selected key issue. Be guided by the literature you read as to how to focus your article. Your essay is to be presented in the form of a journal article for peers and `supported` by a poster which conveys some key aspects from your article. Possible focus areas include: equality, variable, functions, the notion of generality, using multiple representations to develop.

Just and Cribbs (2020, p. 100) argue that "concrete and multiperspective representations of mathematical concepts are key to understanding". Furthermore, “learning environments should give students the opportunity to get to know different representations of a mathematical object in order for them to develop an appropriate multifaceted concept image” (Dreher & Kuntze 2015, p. 92). Hence, whether your focus is more aligned with algebraic thinking or functional thinking, you should be actively seeking mathematics education literature that discusses concrete and/or multiple representations (algebraic/symbolic, graphical, numerical, visual, ...).

• Begin by drawing on the Day 1 reading and your current understanding about teaching and learning algebraic thinking and function to select an initial focus.
• Read at least 5 articles from the Beginning Reading list [LINK] and post one key message to the AT1 READING PADLET [LINK] per reading.
• Your first 2 posts should be posted by Day 2 if possible
• Your post should include the key concept (e.g. FUNCTION or LINEARITY or THE NOTION OF GENERALISING) in upper case to make it easier to search the Padlet.
• Provide this list of five or more articles as Appendix 0.
• Use your reading and associated notes, your posts to the PADLET and posts of others to determine a clear focus for your essay.
• Continue reading, until you have sourced 10 or more relevant mathematics education articles, from the following sources: 
• Beginning Reading list
• Set Readings
• Additional readings on the spreadsheet (scroll down) and in TALIS 
• Tracking readings cited in the articles you use
• Using Google Scholar to track citations of relevant articles and add to your literature
• Use the padlet to make and read posts, help clarify ideas, and focus your writing.
• Be guided by your reading of relevant mathematics education literature to structure and focus your article.
• Make sure you clearly define (from the mathematics education literature) what your focus is. Where there are alternatives, explain these to the reader and state what `definition` you are using/ focusing on. 
• You need to synthesise what you discover/learn from your reading, not simply report it. You also need to tell the reader what the implications are for teaching and learning.
• Include a relevant diagnostic assessment item and associated data from the literature as part of your article

Poster

Drawing on your journal article, create a digital poster (A3 landscape) to communicate key ideas to teachers of mathematics. Your poster should present 2-4 critical ideas from your Journal Article, one diagnostic assessment item from the mathematics education literature to support diagnosing a particular understanding and onelearning task to develop understanding in the selected focus area within algebraic thinking and function in Years 7-10.

• The poster should include the references used (in a small font at the bottom of the poster).
• The back of the poster, considered as an Appendix, can include any additional details or parts of the assessment item and or task, that readers of your poster may find of further interest.
• The diagnostic assessment item might be presented with response rates and/or describing what particular responses to the item suggest about understanding and should have been included (with more details and discussion) in your article.
• The learning task to develop understanding need not be mentioned in the article, but should be sourced from the literature used in your article and/or be developed from recommendations in the literature presented in your article.
• You may create the poster in any form (e.g., Publisher, Word) but must submit it as an A3 pdf in a separate file to your article. Note, the markers will view the poster first, then read your article.
• Bring a hard copy of your poster to Day 3 for display on Day 4. The posters will be combined into a digital booklet of posters for you to use as a resource.