Imagine not being able to read a map or understand the instructions for your new IKEA furniture. For many people this is not that hard to imagine. In fact this is reality for many kids and quite a number of adults too, who simply lack the ability to understand, interpret and solve problems related to situations of proportion, using comparison and relative and multiplicative thinking. The term used for this ability in the didactics of mathematics research is proportional reasoning.

“Proportional reasoning is the ability to use comparisons and multiplicative and relative thinking. It is a cornerstone of numeracy. It enables us to understand things in everyday life, such as calculating and comparing prices, reading a map, and understanding and solving problems. Proportional reasoning is developed in the middle years of schooling, and targeted teaching can enhance it,” says Annette Hilton, who is an Australian researcher within the didactics of science and mathematics at Aarhus University.

She recently won an award from the European Association for Practitioner Research on Improving Learning (EAPRIL) for the best research and practice project.The project is about maths teacher training and it is set to last from 2010-2014. Data is still being collected and analysed by the researchers.

Australian winner project

The project was carried out in her homeland Australia and involved 30 schools and 120 teachers and school leaders in Brisbane and Adelaide, Australia. The main focus of the project involves cooperation between the team of researchers and the practitioners. During the training the teachers participated in workshops and then returned to their schools to implement new methods, try them out, reflect and adjust their strategies.

“It is important to us that the learning from the project is sustainable – it is still alive now when the workshops are over. We are offering not just a single course, but long-term collaboration between practice and theory combined with the teachers’ own reflections,” she says.

Positive feedback

The feedback from the teachers who have been involved has been very positive.

“The teachers feel equipped and inspired after the training. And data about the students’ learning showed that they had made the equivalent of two years of progress within a single school year,” Annette Hilton says. 

Although the school system in Australia is different from that of Denmark, the project model can be transferred to Denmark as well as other countries around the world.

“The project is based on a model which can be implemented in a Danish context as well. However, it should be developed together with practitioners and adjusted to fit their particular situation and challenges,” she says.

About EAPRIL

• EAPRIL is a sister organisation of EARLI, the European Association for Research on Learning and Instruction.
• EAPRIL stands for European Association for Practitioner Research on Improving Learning (in education and professional practice).
• EAPRIL tries to increase the impact of practice-based and applied educational research on educational policy.

Contact

Annette Hilton
E-mail: anhi@dpu.dk
Phone: 21 74 43 94