The purpose with this study is to gain understanding about student´s view of mathematical education, in the later years of nine-year compulsory school, and the motivation factors that can be identified when student´s gives opportunity to express their own thoughts due to the mathematical education. From experiences we have gained during the practical part of our teachers education we got the impression that student´s think that the mathematical education is boring and uninteresting. Through qualitative methods such as survey and discussions in focus group we have analyzed student´s views of mathematical education and pointed out witch motivation factors that are expressed when student´s gives opportunity to influence over their own education. The results are shown from the answers and comments that student´s gave, during the survey and focus group, and is divided into two main parts, both with focus on motivation ?Mathematics and motivation? and ?Student´s influence and motivation? and also a summery part ?Motivated for mathematical education when the student is given influence over the education?. The study showed that student´s wants to have more difference in the work methods that are used in their mathematical education such as problem solving, games, more work in groups and pairs and more use of IT. In conclusion the study also gives suggestions to other studies that can be made in the same genre as this study in the way that IT can be used in mathematical education and how student´s interest can be used in the education to gain more motivated student´s..

The purpose of this study has been to investigate how four 3rd grade pedagogues allow communication in the teaching of mathematics and how these pedagogues allow their students to use and expand their language of mathematics. It has also been an aim to investigate these four pedagogues? opinions about the significance of communication and of the language of mathematics for students? mathematical learning.The study is based on a sociocultural perspective of Vygotskij?s. The theory implies the importance of using the language and communication for students? learning.

The purpose of this study is to show the importance of task texts for students in grades 5 when solving mathematical problems. It was conducted in a class 5 (where the children are 11 years old). The pupils were assigned two different tests with mathematical problems; one where the problems were described in text and one where the problems were presented with numbers and mathematical signs. Previously done research, done on bilingual children, (Bernardo, 2002) shows that pupils tend to do better on mathematical tests when no text is presented. My research supports that theory even though the correlation is not that strong.

In this thesis, the four types of math problems that occur in the digital educational math game Zcooly Affären 2 have been analyzed. Focus has been aimed at how the problems mediate instructions and Mathematical concepts to players, and how the mathematical content is supported by the context within the game. The result shows both positive and negative aspects of the math problems, based on the theories for math education used in this thesis. Apart from the analysis of the game, this thesis also presents earlier research regarding what possibilities digital games possess as tools for learning. Researchers have partly different views on how digital games should be designed to enhance learning, and whether or not games are efficient to use for learning purposes..

Thanks to I have got to explore different teaching ways around the problem solving in a year 3, in a multicultural school which is located south of Stockholm, I have been able to answer my question at issue in my degree work. My question at issue on this investigation and the purpose with my degree work was to explore different teaching ways that promotes pupils with another mother tongue than Swedish, to develop reading comprehension and to get a better understanding of Mathematical concepts in problem solving tasks. On this investigation have I chosen to teach these pupils to explore, reach and gain a deeper understanding of what teaching about problem solving promotes these pupils. I have when it concerns choice of method and material collections assumed from a qualitative investigation and gathered the material with help from participation notices and interviews. I have in my investigation reached the conclusion that those pupils with another mother tongue than Swedish developed reading comprehension and got a better understanding of Mathematical concepts in problem solving tasks by being taught in a creative and varied teaching. A creative and varied teaching as I taught those pupils in contained:the pupils had to work with living-related problem tasksthe pupils had to work in pairs to resolve problem solvingthe pupils had to work in larger groups to resolve problem solvingthe pupils had to work in a creative way, by writing and drawing pictures and do their own mathematical fairy tale in problem solvingthe pupils had to work with manipulatives to resolve problem solving in half classes..

The purpose of this study is to find out teachers view on manipulatives as a way to concretize a certain mathematical content and to highlight knowledge and experiences within the range of using manipulatives to concretize. By answering the questions below different approaches a teacher may have towards the manipulatives and how that may impact on student?s learning will also be discussed in comparison to mainly traditional and socially constructive theories of learning.What is the teachers view on manipulatives as a way to concretize?What purpose do they have when using manipulatives?According to the teachers, what does it mean to concretize a certain mathematical content?According to the teachers, what connection is there between manipulatives and concretizing?Through interviews and observations conclusions can be made that the teachers are in general positive towards using manipulatives as a way to concretize a certain mathematical content although the definition of what a manipulative is differ somewhat between the teachers. The teachers working with manipulatives do it in a well thought out fashion but more research is needed to furthermore define the purpose of using manipulatives. Few countries spend so much time concretizing and working with manipulatives as Sweden do, but still Sweden score below the OECD-average on the mathematical PISA-tests.

This study illuminates one part of the mathematic teaching in school, which is mathematical problem solving in groups. It examines teacher?s and student?s ideas about what conditions it takes to be able to learn in groups. Further on, it studies the importance of group structure when it comes to working with mathematical problem solving in groups from a process focused and/or a product focused learning. Through observations of student groups and interviews with the students and the mathematic teachers, the material has been compiled and analysed under three different headings: conditions for learning in a mathematical problem solving situation, importance of group structure in a mathematical problem solving situation and process versus product.

The aim of this study is to fill the gap in mathematics education research concerning the relationship between identity and positioning in mathematical collaboration in groups. This study elaborates on the relationship between how pupils see themselves as math students in sixth grade, how they show their identities as math students, in contrast to how they position themselves reflexively in group collaboration while engaging in mathematical problem solving. The theoretical concepts linked to this study are discourse, identity and positioning. Discourse is used to describe and form the setting and context of the study. Identity is seen as a transient and elusive concept formed by the students own perceptions of self through narratives.

The aim of this study was to investigate which factors teachers and special needs education teachers view as being the main causes of mathematical learning difficulties and from these choose how to educate pupils with these difficulties. The aim was also to investigate how this education is organised at two different schools. An interview based investigation addressed these objectives by using three comprehensive questions:Which factors do the teachers and special needs teachers view as being the main reasons for mathematical learning difficulties?How do teachers and special needs teachers educate pupils with mathematical learning difficulties?How is the education organised for pupils with mathematical learning difficulties at two different schools?This study is based on four interviews of three teachers and one special needs teacher. The people interviewed work at two different primary schools in the same local authority.

This is an empirical study of how the mathematical talk of adult learners constructs/reconstructs different mathematical discourses. The study is to be regarded as an attempt to develop a discursive approach within the field of mathematics education and to complicate the status of mathematics in education and in society in general. My theoretical underpinnings consist of three possible mathematical discourses ? coercive, regulative and emancipative mathematics. From a discursive psychology perspective, I let these discourses function as analytical interpretive repertoires in relation to the adult learners? rhetorical use of mathematics and their claiming of mathematical subject-positions, named the coerced, the self-regulating and the responsible mathematician.

The purpose of the present study is to describe adult second language learners? experiences of mathematics learning from a past and contemporary perspective. What experiences in mathematics do they bring? What does it mean to learn Mathematics through their new language?The study is based on life-world narratives from five second language students with another native language than Swedish. Today they all study at a Swedish folk high school, at upper secondary level and they have previously studied at this level in Mathematics. The result shows that the meeting with the Swedish school and folk high school context is confusing.

The purpose of this study is to examine senior high school students? strategies and reasoning when solving mathematical problems and make a review of the concept problem solving. The purpose is also to examine if the students? choice of strategies are influenced when their mathematical knowledge is improved.The study was conducted in two science classes at a senior high school. All the students were asked to individually solve two mathematical problems.

Purpose: The purpose of the study is to find out what mathematical content primary school children encounter in their free options at school.Through observation, the study defines mathematical areas that primary school students encounter in their free options at school. We want the study to show the reader the mathematics that students continuously meet without associating it with regular mathematics as taught in school.A number of mathematical areas have been defined in the analysis of the observations. These areas have subsequently been discussed more thoroughly. Finally, the areas have been arranged in a grid system to clarify the results.In our study, we have discovered that mathematics exists in all the observed situations the students participated in.We believe that observation as a method can give teachers a tool for helping students associate practical actions during their free options with the more theoretical aspects of formal teaching of mathematics. We discuss this further in the study..

This report is a qualitative study on children aged three to five years who are in the Swedish preschool. The purpose of the study is to investigate how five experienced preschool teachers view the way children between three and five years acquire basic Mathematical concepts, basic numeracy and geometry. The aim is also to find out whether teachers feel that the size of the group of children affects their learning.The study contains information about what preschool teachers think about the way children learn mathematics and how the size of the group of children affects this learning. From the results it can be seen that children learn Mathematics, both in everyday situations and when playing. Moreover, the group size does not seem to affect the mathematical learning of the child.

Empirical research shows that a possible reason why Swedish students mathematical knowledge deteriorates can be a too big focus on imitative reasoning, i.e. recalling solutions or follow algorithms, and a lack of creative mathematical reasoning, i.e. when a student construct his/her own solution and motivates its plausibility with mathematically well-founded arguments. The purpose of this study is therefore to examine if, and in what way, lecturers can provide students an opportunity to learn creative reasoning by simulating creativity in their presentations of examples. Six lectures were observed and 22 task situations were analyzed with respect to three aspects; reflection, plausibility and mathematical foundation, which are to be present in the situation if the reasoning will be seen as simulated creative.