Creating learning spaces that foster creative thinking in mathematics: Kristjana Skúladóttir, mathematics teacher

• Published in: Netla
• Main Authors: Kristinsdóttir, Jónína vala, Steinþórsdóttir, Ólöf Björg
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: Icelandic
• Published: Menntavísindasvið Háskóla Íslands 2023
• Subjects: Mathematics learning; assessment for learning; learning spaces; elementary-school teaching; stærðfræðinám; leiðsagnarnám; námsumhverfi; grunnskólakennsla; Iceland
• Online Access: https://ojs.hi.is/index.php/netla/article/view/3936; https://doi.org/10.24270/serritnetla.2023.5

Children’s thinking about mathematics and understanding how they learn and engage with mathematics has gained more importance in the teacher education programs and the national curriculum in Iceland. This article provides a case study of the work of one mathematics teacher Kristjana, whose goal was to engage her elementary students (ages 6–13) in mathematics through problem-solving and creative thinking. She has also provided professional development to teachers and has been a valued mentor to many teachers in their journey towards more engaging mathematics teaching. Kristjana is an active member of Flötur, the Association of Mathematics Teachers in Iceland. This article highlights the research Kristjana has been introduced to and how she has used her knowledge about children’s thinking to guide her instructional practice and support other teachers. We used narrative inquiry to tell Kristjana’s story, using evidence from Kristjana’s career, interviews with Kristjana, field notes, and sample work from Kristjana’s students. Kristjana’s story reveals how her collaborations with mathematics education researchers and colleagues have informed her journey. Through ongoing discussions about the importance of observing children’s thinking, Kristjana and her colleagues collaborated to design a learning environment that supports student mathematical thinking. In this chapter, we will highlight three bodies of research that have influenced Kristjana: Cognitively Guided Instruction (CGI), research on student’s proportional reasoning, and assessment for learning. Cognitively Guided Instructions has had a profound impact on Kristjana since she was introduced to it in the early 1990s. Around that time, Dr Thomas Carpenter and Dr Elizabeth Fennema introduced CGI to the mathematics education community. The premise of CGI is that children have informal knowledge of mathematics, which should be the base of their formal learning in primary school mathematics. Specifically, CGI investigated the informal knowledge children used to ...