The perspectives of a group of Irish primary teachers on designing mathematical tasks using mini whiteboards

Abstract

The introduction of the new Primary Mathematics Curriculum brings exciting opportunities for Irish primary teachers and students to engage with mathematics teaching and learning. Students will be presented with new methods and mathematical concepts, with a particular focus on cognitively challenging tasks. Teachers will require support and professional development in the selection and design of such tasks. This dissertation explores the perspectives of a group of Irish primary teachers on designing mathematical tasks using mini whiteboards. Participant teachers designed a mathematical task and implemented this with their class. They were interviewed to gain an insight into their perspectives of designing a task for this study, as well as their ongoing practice and beliefs as mainstream class teachers. Findings show that this group of teachers are creative, flexible and adaptable in their work as task designers. They design mathematical tasks to engage and motivate their students. They gather and store ideas for mathematical tasks from a range of sources and are able to draw on these when selecting and designing their own mathematical tasks. Using mini whiteboards to design mathematical tasks offers opportunities for formative assessment, encourages freedom of thought and promotes student engagement and motivation. The findings also illustrate a keen appetite among this group of teachers for more collaboration. Teachers value the sharing of ideas and would like to do this more often. However, a lack of time is presented as a prohibiting factor for teachers in designing their own mathematical tasks and collaborating with colleagues. Insights from this research may prove useful for schools and teachers in supporting the introduction of the new Primary Mathematics Curriculum. Recommendations include the provision of time for teachers to collaborate in task design and task analysis and for schools and teachers to engage in critical analysis of teaching and learning resources, particularly in relation to the selection of mathematical textbooks.