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ERIC Number: EJ1448759
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2024
Pages: 6
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-0228-0671
EISSN: N/A
Three Tenets Forcing Improvisation for Mathematical Exploration and Co-Creation
Jørgen Sjaastad
For the Learning of Mathematics, v44 n3 p8-13 2024
Years of failed attempts to engage my mathematics teacher students in exploration and co-creation led me to radically change my teaching approach. Inspired by literature that uses the jazz improv metaphor for teaching, I derived three tenets based on principles from jazz improv. First, I would bring no more than a single problem-solving task to class. No lectures were prepared. Second, I would not do any mathematics myself throughout the entire semester. Third, I would only mention a theory if we encountered a situation described by that theory. Here, I describe the rationale behind these tenets and the unfolding of the first tenet-led semester. I embraced improvisation as the new norm, stopped preparing traditional lectures, and started preparing myself. While being the facilitator of co-creative mathematical explorations, I was on the constant lookout for experiences that could serve as starting points for curriculum-relevant theoretical discussions and discussions about teacher actions. Drawing on the students' engagement, their feedback, and the final examinations, it seems they gained important insights from this experiment. Most importantly, I felt the joy of participating in the joint mathematical explorations, and I believe the students experienced the same. [The page range (p. 8-12) on the URL: is incorrect. The correct page is p. 8-13.]
FLM Publishing Association. 382 Education South, University of Alberta, Edmonton, Alberta T6G 2G5, Canada. e-mail: flm2@ualberta.ca; Web site: https://flm-journal.org/
Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Evaluative
Education Level: N/A
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A