Swedish Upper Secondary Students’ Perspectives on the Typical Mathematics Lesson

Abstract

This paper presents a group interview study of Swedish upper secondary students' perspectives on the typical mathematics lesson. Students, from four demographically different schools, constructed a collective synthesis of their many years' experience of mathematics classrooms. Transcriptions were subjected to a constant comparison analysis, which yielded a consistent lesson structure. This comprised a period, known as a genomgång, during which teachers 'go through' something, followed by periods of individual work from the book. While there was some variation in the manifestation of both elements of the lesson, students were remarkably consistent in their summary of the typical lesson structure.

Differences in Norwegian and Swedish student teachers’ explanations of solutions of linear equations

“…Choosing one method for the additive step, does not imply you do not understand the other. It might be just that you prefer one of the methods, possibly by cultural reasons (Andrews & Larson, 2017). In this study, the participants gave a written reply, with no possibilities to follow-up questions.…”

“…The participants were student teachers in their first mathematics course in the teacher education, so it is likely that their understanding of solving equations was rooted in their upper secondary education. Cultural influences are important for teaching (Andrews & Larson, 2017), and stressing DSBS might be more frequent among Swedish upper secondary teachers than among their Norwegian colleagues. As Andrews and Öhman (2017) described, their interviewees claimed their teacher did not allow them to use SSSS.…”

“…This does not mean providing SSSS is wrong, but to understand what you are doing, SSSS should be backed up by DSBS (Andrews & Öhman, 2017). Although there might be cultural traditions that stress a specific method (Andrews & Larson, 2017), teacher educators must also raise awareness of its shortcomings.…”

“…Despite no definite conclusions can be drawn from two studies, this still may arouse an awareness of the cultural influence on teaching (cf. Andrews & Larson, 2017).…”

Opportunities to learn foundational number sense in three Swedish year one textbooks: implications for the importation of overseas-authored materials

“…In sum, assuming that Swedish teachers work within 'culturally determined patterns of belief and behaviour, frequently beneath articulation, that distinguish one set of teachers from their culturally different colleagues' (Andrews & Sayers, 2013, p. 133), and evidence suggests they do (Andrews & Larson, 2017a, 2017b, then the deployment of either Favorit and Singma is likely to prove problematic. Both books present different emphases on the core FoNS competences found in Eldorado, particularly with respect to the breadth of opportunities found uniquely in within it, and, importantly, culturally situation didactical perspectives that differ majorly from the Swedish, whether its shallow gradient of difficulty or expectation of regular exposure to core ideas throughout the year.…”