Humour in Mathematics Teaching
HUMAT Research Project
Developed by the Higher School of Education of Viseu (Portugal), in partnership with the University of Minho (Portugal), the University of Granada (Spain) and the University of Mendoza (Argentina), with the support of the Polytechnic Institute of Viseu (Portugal) and of the CI&DETS./CIDEI
The project
This research project seeks to address these questions, focused on : (i ) assessment of teachers’ practices and underlying knowledge, resources available for the use of texts with mathematical ideas presented in a humorous way; (ii) selection, adaptation and construction of mathematical tasks from texts that present, in a humorous way, mathematical ideas with didactic potential in education for the early years of schooling; and ( iii ) integration and use, by primary school teachers, of texts that present , in a humorous way, contexts for the teaching of mathematics. The project, with a strong element of curriculum development, is based on the knowledge about planning and implementation of exploratory teaching of mathematics, in which students work with challenging mathematical tasks, and also on current knowledge about the didactic potential of humor in several texts. Regarding the first point there is a considerable investigation, but regarding the second, the available knowledge is more scarce. Thus, the project seeks to expand the vision concerning mathematics teaching practices and knowledge in the early years of schooling (4th6th), supported by mathematical tasks that use humorous texts and also intends to design and produce materials to support this teaching (a book with a selection of texts and humorous tasks alluding to mathematics, lesson plans and classroom episodes and texts with a theoretical basis about the subject).
The team
The project team is multidisciplinary, including doctoral researchers in Didactics of mathematics and Language Sciences, from institutions of higher education. The first have a strong interest in curriculum issues and have written work concerning design and selection of stories alluding to mathematics and exploratory teaching supported in mathematical tasks, some of which of humorous nature. The later have been working in these research areas, especially in issues about text, communication and humor, ensuring the desirable articulation between mathematics and the humorous text. The project is organized into four tasks and as a methodological design that combines qualitative elements with quantitative elements, the first prevailing.
Luís Menezes, Higher School of Education of Viseu (Portugal) - Coordinator
Ana M. Oliveira, Higher School of Education of Viseu (Portugal)
Ana P. Martins, Higher School of Education of Viseu (Portugal)
António Ribeiro, Higher School of Education of Viseu (Portugal)
Floriano Viseu, University of Minho (Portugal)
Helena Gomes, Higher School of Education of Viseu (Portugal)
Isabel A. Matos, Higher School of Education of Viseu (Portugal)
João P. Balula, Higher School of Education of Viseu (Portugal)
Monica Guitart, University of Mendoza (Argentina)
Pablo Flores, University of Granada (Spain)
Véronique Delplancq, Higher School of Education of Viseu (Portugal)
Collaborators:
Daniel Simões and Marta Carvalho
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