Plenary activities

The plenary lectures will be given by

Plenary 1:  Deborah Loewenberg Ball, University of Michigan, USA  

Plenary 2: Janne Fauskanger, University of Stavanger, Norway

Plenary 3:  Uffe Thomas Jankvist and Cecilie Carlsen Bach, DPU, University of Aarhus, Denmark

Plenary 4: Cecilia Kilhamn, Göteborgs Universitet, NCM

Plenary panel:   Four or five early carrier researchers selected by the IPC based on submission for the conference  

Plenary 1 - What is the Work of Mathematics Teaching, and How Can Research Contribute to It?

Deborah Loewenberg Ball, University of Michigan, USA

Teaching is the largest occupation in the world, with more than 72 million people doing it every day. Although the field of research on teaching is more than 50 years old, the work involved in the actual practice of teaching remains only partially understood.  Scholars and practitioners alike seek to articulate and theorize about teaching, and yet often leave crucial aspects of the work unnoticed. This lecture will build an argument about these gaps and draw connections as well as tensions with extant knowledge. It will also explore possible ways to move forward in research on mathematics teaching that would get us closer to the actual work in ways that would strengthen practice and not only support practitioners, but most important, the young people whose flourishing –– or lack thereof  – depends on teachers.

Plenary 2 - Teacher education and professional development as practicing core teaching practices

Janne Fauskanger, University of Stavanger, Norway

The field of mathematics teacher education and professional development has witnessed a shift towards making practice a central source of teacher learning. With this shift as a background, this presentation will start by introducing the history of practice-based teacher education research, including a brief analysis of how the phrase “practice-based” is used in the literature. This will be followed by a presentation of some findings from some projects on practice-based teacher education, highlighting examples of pedagogies that put teaching practice at the core and that have the potential to foster teacher learning. The presentation will conclude by identifying issues and challenges for future research.

Plenary 3 - Math Mastery in the Digital Age: The Confluence of Digital Tools and Mathematical Competencies

Uffe Thomas Jankvist and Cecilie Carlsen Bach, DPU, University of Aarhus, Denmark

In 2002, the Danish KOM framework, focusing on "mathematical competencies," was introduced. Since then, this approach to describing mathematical proficiency has had a significant impact on mathematics education, particularly in the Nordic countries, but also beyond. However, in the initial description of the KOM framework, little attention was given to the role of digital technologies in teaching and learning mathematics. In general, discussions about using digital technologies and developing mathematical competencies have occurred separately, both in practice and in research. Since 2019, a Danish research project has been investigating the interplay between students' development of mathematical competencies and the use of digital tools in both lower and upper secondary school. Additionally, the project has explored the potential for connecting elements of the KOM framework to other theoretical constructs in mathematics education, particularly those related to the use of digital tools. Examples of theoretical constructs applied in such connections include the instrumental approach, semiotic mediations, and elements of the theory of conceptual fields. In this keynote presentation, we provide an overview of this research project and its current results. Specifically, we emphasize the connection between two mathematical competencies: representation and communication, in the context of using dynamic geometry environments in lower secondary school.

Plenary 4 - Researching the implementation of programming in school mathematics

Cecilia Kilhamn, Göteborgs Universitet, NCM

Programming was introduced in the Swedish mathematics curriculum in 2018 – what did that entail and how did it influence mathematics teachers’ existing practices? Based on a four-year research project studying that implementation, we will discuss potentials and challenges of using programming as a tool for learning mathematics. We ask how research can inform practice and curriculum development and give examples of the work that needs to be done.