Teachers’ core beliefs about improving transfer of algebraic skills from mathematics into physics in senior pre-university education

Teachers’ core beliefs about improving transfer of algebraic skills from mathematics into physics in senior pre-university education

Turşucu, S. (TU Delft Science Education and Communication)
Spandaw, J.G. (TU Delft Analysis)
Flipse, S.M. (TU Delft Science Education and Communication)
de Vries, M.J. (TU Delft Science Education and Communication; TU Delft Ethics & Philosophy of Technology)

2018

Students in senior pre-university education face difficulties in the application of mathematics in physics. This paper presents the results of a qualitative study on teachers’ core beliefs about improving the transfer of algebraic skills to physics. Teachers were interviewed about their beliefs regarding a transfer problem from mathematics to physics for which solution algebraic skills were needed. We obtained large amount of data which were reduced to sixteen core beliefs including constraints and affordances influencing students’ demonstration of coherent mathematics education (CME) and transfer of algebraic skills from mathematics into physics. These core beliefs were grouped into the five main categories ‘Collaboration’, ‘Curricula’, ‘Students’, ‘Teachers’ and ‘Textbooks’. We think that our approach to pattern coding is both elegant and generally applicable to reduce code trees including large amount of data. Four core beliefs were identified as naïve beliefs, which may impede transfer. We provided a powerful remedy against such unproductive beliefs: through professional development programs teachers with such beliefs should be made aware, reflect and reconcile their naïve beliefs with those required for transfer. These core beliefs contain data to extract teachers’ belief systems. Quantitative research could investigate to which extent this is the case and which beliefs these contain.

coherent mathematics education
qualitative research
senior pre-university education
teachers' core beliefs
transfer of learning

http://resolver.tudelft.nl/uuid:447772d7-f16b-49a1-bbec-505164a7f4b3

https://doi.org/10.29333/ejmste/93398

EURASIA Journal of Mathematics, Science and Technology Education, 14 (10)

Institutional Repository

journal article

© 2018 S. Turşucu, J.G. Spandaw, S.M. Flipse, M.J. de Vries