Following abstracts have been selected from Kathmandu University for the National Conference on Mathematical Education, which is going to
be held on 27th Sep. at World Trade Centre, Tripureshowr.
1. Bal Chandra Luitel
Mathematics education for all: Prospects and challenges (Mathematics education for all)
Written in a self-conscious form of writing, the paper addresses the issue of mathematics education for all fro
2. Tika Ram Pokhrel
Projects Based Mathematics learning
The way of teaching mathematics in our country need to be accelerated to project based learning. Projects are best instruments for learning mathematics in our context. The project based learning consists of a sequence of tasks to be carried in order to gain experience. Why do we need project based learning and how can we create and use projects is the main concern of the paper. The provision of a situation, selection of project and determination of objectives, planning, execution, evaluation and recording as procedural steps in project method are mentioned. The role of teacher and students are also examined. There should be appropriate policy for including project work in the existing assessment system.
Key Words: Project based learning, Procedures of creating projects, roles of teachers, project based assessment and learning mathematics.
3. Amrit Poudel
Feminism as a referent for mathematics teacher professional development (Teacher Professional Development)
This study narrates possible reasons for my motivations towards culture sensitive mathematics teaching. It focused on my journey to gender sensitive and culturally inclusive mathematics pedagogy for Nepali Schools. My journey starts from ‘anti-motherly’ (sic) mathematics pedagogy and transforms into culturally responsive and gender sensitive teacher, researcher and teacher educator. I have used critical auto\ethnography as a method of research and writing to connect personal to the cultural, placing self within a social context. Agreeing with Freire’s notion of conscientization, which is strictly connected with his notion of “authentic praxis”, an approach to learning that involves a combination of action, reflection and imagining, I can see its potential of helping our mathematics education to be more motherly (i.e., inclusive, meaningful and life skills-oriented). It is a spiritual awakening to find the clear knowledge of Divine Feminine as a nature or earth. For me, education is inquriy and inquiry is education and it is a new way of conceptualizing the curricular goal of education . While mathematics education is inquiry, it also focuses on meaning making, and it goes further. In Harste’s world, ‘the inquiry’ is search for ever broader connections. Writing as inquiry is a tool for thinking rather than a skill to be mastered.
4. Binod P. Pant & Punary Phuyal
Discourse between two paradigms of school mathematics curriculum: conventionality Vs post/modernity (Curriculum)
The great physicist C. P. Snow (1959) of Cambridge University, in his book, The Two Cultures, a Second Look (1964) explained about the existence of two distinct cultures within our society, the arts and the sciences. These two distinct cultures have own standpoints in promoting and improving teaching and learning of mathematics through different approaches. The one who believes society as an entity of pure natural science, it takes mathematics as a pure body of knowledge. Memorization of facts as well as the ability to follow rules are the students’ role (Hiebert, 2003), and to provide clear-cut and step-by-step demonstration are the teachers’ duty. In this approach, teachers advocate behaviorist approach as taken for granted, and the textbooks are taken as the ultimate authority from whence “the answers to all mathematical problems are known and found” (Smith, 1996). The paper pencil test measures the memorization of the facts and focuses on “routine problems”. On the other hand, who believes cultures as an art, it takes knowledge can be constructed. It aims at assisting students in utilizing their own unique backgrounds and experiences to develop a personal understanding of mathematical situations. This is known as constructivism where students involve in a new task with prior knowledge, assimilate new information, and, subsequently, construct their own meaning (Amit and Fried 2002). As children construct their own understanding based on the relationship between prior knowledge, existing ideas, and new experiences, the facilitator should encourage “to construct with new ideas, to work at fitting them into existing networks, and to challenge their own ideas and those of others” (Van De Walle 2007). In this approach, it is widely accepted that the learner must herself/himself actively explore mathematical concepts in order to build the necessary structures of understanding, it then follows that teaching mathematics must be reconceived as the provision of meaningful problems designed to encourage and facilitate the constructive process” (Schifter and Fosnot, 1993). This paper aims to bring a discourse between the above two paradigms of teaching mathematics.
5. Amrit Thapa
It was an evocative experience for me to have conducted a research on the topic “Math teachers’ beliefs, experiences and democratic practices in mathematics classroom”, as part of qualification of Master of Education. Employing Auto/Ethnographic research approach (Willis, 2007) enabled me to excavate my own beliefs and practices including the research participants. Astonishingly the inquiry indicated that the teachers’ beliefs about ‘innate math talent/intelligence’ was so deeply ingrained in practice that the learning environment was creating a form of class struggle between ‘is intelligent’ and ‘is not intelligent’. Teachers’ beliefs largely emphasized on mathematical knowledge as abstract, formal and absolute promoting text book centred assessment to distinguish student math-ability and hence the discriminatory pedagogy of teaching. Working as a teacher educator, university student and university faculty gave me ample opportunity to explore deeper into the beliefs of math teachers. These experiences have enabled me to draw my attention towards a serious form of discrimination, suppression and hence the cultural oppression (Freire, 1993) in the classroom. It is terrible to know that the universalisation or de/contextualization (Luitel, Taylor, 2010) of mathematical knowledge creates uninteresting pedagogy of mathematics forcing students to develop a sense of giftedness hence putting themselves into one of the two compartments, the gifted and not-gifted. Unconvincing categorization of students with innate intelligence (Gardner,1983) by means of narrowly defined academic math courses has been promoting unjust and dis-empowering pedagogy of mathematics teaching/learning thereby endorsing violence against democracy and peace. After rigorous research I have come to the stand that intelligence cannot be narrowly defined (Robinson, 2006) and hence cannot be measured through narrowly structured assessment tools.
6. Tulshi Ram Pandey
Teaching Mathematics: A Shift in Terms of Applying Participatory Pedagogies (Teacher Professional Development)
This paper entitled “Teaching Mathematics: A Shift in Terms of Applying Participatory Pedagogies” is an autoethnographic inquiry which aims to excavate experiences that I have gained in the journey of teaching and learning of mathematics. In this paper, I focus on pedagogical growth and changes that I have witnessed from my early years of profession as a primary teacher to my most recent arrival in this research work. This epic journey has also seen the moments of failure that I could not make in pedagogical shifts visible, despite my frequent attempts in trying to apply participatory pedagogies in mathematics teaching based on my ideals of transformative learning.
To articulate my visions about teaching and learning of mathematics as a student and as a teacher, I have used autoethnography, the method and genre of my research. Furthermore, I have drawn on the theory of radical constructivism that regards knowledge as a result of an individual’s constructive activity guided by seeing the viabilities rather than sticking in the validity. With this, I employed “small p” philosophical inquiry that gives emphasis on the personal meaning making and meaning seeking process.
7. Ramesh Neupane
On becoming an arts-informed teacher of mathematics (pedagogy)
Being mathematics teacher of the post-modern (?) era, this is my responsibility to reflect, critic and enhance my practices and see the new possibilities from more than ‘3600 angles’ of social, professional and personal life. For me post-modern philosophy means an acceptance of multiple perspectives offering new ways of seeing through mathematics, teachers and learners (Ernest, 2012). I am here to explore a series of experiences that I had and I am having. The main goal of this article is to explore possibilities of teaching mathematics in more comprehensive ways in Nepal through post-modern thought and actions.
8. Binod Pd. Pant
Teachers' Professional Development through Self-reflection
Self- reflection is about thinking over own actions and acting in interaction with the environment, and with the colleagues, which can have inner dialogue with him/herself. For a teacher, it requires honesty to oneself and to other people; it can be very useful due to verisimilitude nature in different psychological and pedagogical aspects in the classroom. As it modifies the practices towards the better every time, it is widely accepted that reflection is a crucial in the professional development. While doing so, it creates a sense of empowerment, self-realization and solidarity to the teachers. So, it is taken as a agent of change (Artzt, 2002). I believe that the better teaching approach cannot be generated over night; it is neither a ready-mate stuff to apply as it is from someone experience nor it is skill, nor can be developed from a session in a conference or in training. It is a continuous process, which can be developed through observing ones' own practices. Pollard and Tann (1993) believe that, "the process of reflection feeds a constructive spiral of professional development and competence” (p. 4). Reflection is definitely a vital skill as it can be considered to be a key to teacher development. It can be either intuitive or systematic and organized; it enables teachers to become aware of their weak and strong points. Absence of such awareness would make a further teacher grow impossible. Reflection should “lead to the conscious development of insights into knowing-in-action” (Wallace, 1991 p. 13). This paper aims to bring the importance of personal reflection for teacher development and its' usefulness and popularity in transformative education research (Luitel, 2009).
Key Words: self-reflection, knowing-in-action, transformative education research
9. Pundary Phuyal
Reconceptualizing "teaching experiment" in mathematics
Being a mathematics teacher in school level for more than ten years, I believe that my students need to go beyond making thinks "products". They need to develop creative mathematical thinking and problem solving skills and I am the one who is responsible for building strong foundations to my students. Otherwise, students' new demands cannot be met through passive, rote-oriented learning focused on basic skills and memorization of disconnected facts. We need mathematics learning that" enables critical thinking, flexible problem solving, transfer of skills and use of knowledge in new situations" (Darling – Hammod, 2008, p.2). The activities of doing mathematics should be viewed with a playful attitude and confidence. But, how can I promote such a playful attitude? I, perhaps, have to design such a technique that investigates my students' mathematical knowledge and how it might be learned in the context of mathematics teaching. I perhaps need such type of teaching methodology, which is lived. I investigate in order to improve learning in my classrooms and beyond, which is, I believe, "Teaching Experiment Methodology". In this paper, I discuss about teaching experiment methodology, its' usefulness in mathematics classroom and its' affect to the students' learning.
10. Indramani Shrestha
Transforming mathematics education landscape from de-contextualize to contextualize
11. Surendra Singh Thagunna
Significance of geometry: Relating geometry with real life (pedagogy)
Geometry is very useful in our daily life. The study of geometry has started right from the human civilization. But, many of us, including me, have bitter experiences in learning and teaching geometry. A significant number of students show dissatisfaction in geometry, and they do not secure good grade from geometry portion. I realized that geometry teaching is a challenging job. Therefore, I came to write this paper, which presents an overview of the attitudes of learners and teachers towards teaching learning of geometry as well as trends and challenges of teaching learning methods of geometry in Nepal. Yet more, this paper depicts the real scenario of the problems faced by the people in their daily lives due to lack of geometrical knowledge and thus tries to relate theoretical concepts of geometry with daily life problems. This paper aims to develop an insight into learners, teachers and other professionals about the significance of geometry in real life and the ways of making geometry classroom more enjoyable and effective with the various practical problems.
12. Satya Raj Joshi
Recovering individualized teaching through humanistic nature of mathematics (pedagogy)
The paper aims to explore the distinction between mathematics education that ethically applies in existing versions of mathematics and mathematics education that seeks to recast mathematics as an unavoidably and undeniably humanistic enterprise. The essence of this paper is to seek the possibilities of linking mathematics with the aesthetic activities of human where I present my understating of god, beauty and truth. This paper advocates to the beliefs that human society have close relationship to the formal mathematical models, and mathematics is/for human society developed by the same society. I do not believe that mathematical formalism is an alien language, which exist somewhere else than our society. More generally, I believe this paper would be helpful for anyone who is curious about the nature of mathematical and humanistic thought and their relationship to the universe.
13. Surendra Mishra
Beliefs and practices of mathematics teacher as a means for transforming teacher identity (Teacher Professional Development)
In this paper, I will address different aspects of my research that examines Beliefs and practices of mathematics teacher as a means for transforming identity. Since my research is about teacher identity and beliefs and its effects on practices, so I would share my experiences of teaching and learning mathematics (especially algebra) as a teacher as well as a student. I will share my experience as a teacher as well as student by describing the events in the form of stories. I will include two stories as a teacher and as a student.
14. Surendra Prasad Singh
Application of information Technology in the Mathematics Classroom
Application of technology in the classroom cannot be avoided. Technology is developed and available at reasonable price and knowledge of technology can be combined to improve teaching of international level. According to Piaget knowledge is constructed through assimilation, accommodation, and equilibrium.ICT can help to improve teaching learning by using multimedia in the classroom. The process can be improved by providing prerequisites, prompt feedback of ineffective learning strategies. This paper will try to show with help of slides how teaching of geometry with ICT can save time and energy but with clarity.
15. Ruma Manandhar
Can Abstract Algebra be taught meaningfully?
This paper, being focused in learning of abstract algebraic structure group, tries to deal on the overall understanding process followed by the students, their difficulties, different levels of understanding to be connected for making students able to produce a proof based on an empirical study.
16. Bedraj Acharya
Pedagogical Practices in the Mathematics Classroom at Primary School in Nepal: A Cultural Perspective
In this article, I have articulated mathematics classroom practice in Nepalese schools. The main purpose of my study was to explore classroom practices in mathematics in diverse cultural setting. I adopted ethnographic approach to inquiry to describe the realities about classroom practices of mathematics teaching and learning. The classroom teaching - learning situation was observed on the basis of the classroom episodes. I observed classroom episodes / practices of three schools of the Kathmandu Valley to achieve the research objective. I obtained the different data texts from my potential participants. Then, I discussed the data texts from different sociological perspectives with my critical reflection. It was found that lecture-based teaching activities, less participatory teaching, and lack of teachers' knowledge to teach mathematics in the different cultural setting were the major factors for not facilitating learning mathematics in culturally diverged classroom environment. Teachers were theoretically familiar about the student- centered, participatory, child friendly and democratic classroom. However, in practice, they were not successful in applying these techniques in the actual classroom.
17. Raghubir Bhatta
Implication of Constructivism Teaching Theory on Classroom Teaching
Constructivism learning theory is the further development as behaviorism arrives at cognitivism. According to its teaching theory: knowledge is uncertain; the learning process of knowledge is also the construction process of knowledge; students are the main body of learning activity and they construct knowledge on their own initiatives; teachers are the helpers and the drivers for students constructing knowledge. These views generate more implications for Nepal’s teaching reform, what affect the reform of learning theory and teaching theory in a sense and turn into the theoretical base for our education reform. This article tries to probe into the implication of constructivism teaching theory on our school teaching. This article is the product of writer's intervention in higher secondary school teaching of Mathematics.
18. Harsh B. Chanda
Analysis of errors on solving problems from geometry course of secondary level
Teaching and learning Euclidean geometry in school level is problematic from many decades. So, many researches have been conducted in this area. This article presents results of research conducted to attain objective 'to analyze and interpret errors committed by secondary school students in solving problems from geometry'. The research was conducted by using written test, interview schedule (Newman) and interview schedule (van Hiele). The result shows that maximum students were found in lower level of van Hiele model of thinking than the required level of thinking to solve problem so that maximum errors were occurred in either comprehension or transformation level.
19. Bishnu Khanal
Teaching Styles perceived by primary level mathematics students
The study was conducted to investigate primary school students’ perception of their teachers’ teaching styles. The observation, interview and researcher’s introspection were different tools adopted for the collection of information. The study was guided by learning theories: cognitivism, behaviorisms, and constructivism. The study concluded that the primary teacher’s teaching style was perceived as indifferent and authoritarian types.
1. Bal Chandra Luitel
Mathematics education for all: Prospects and challenges (Mathematics education for all)
Written in a self-conscious form of writing, the paper addresses the issue of mathematics education for all fro
m
the perspective of inclusion and equity. Key challenges discussed are
associated with: a) views of the nature of mathematics as a body of pure
knowledge, b) mathematics teaching as transmitting formulas and facts,
c) mathematics learning as rote memorization, and d) the dominant goal
of mathematics education being guided by technical academic interests.
Key prospects are discussed in relation to Nepal’s diverse cultural
landscapes which potentially offer ways of developing learning tasks and
associated pedagogies with an aim of producing active citizens.
2. Tika Ram Pokhrel
Projects Based Mathematics learning
The way of teaching mathematics in our country need to be accelerated to project based learning. Projects are best instruments for learning mathematics in our context. The project based learning consists of a sequence of tasks to be carried in order to gain experience. Why do we need project based learning and how can we create and use projects is the main concern of the paper. The provision of a situation, selection of project and determination of objectives, planning, execution, evaluation and recording as procedural steps in project method are mentioned. The role of teacher and students are also examined. There should be appropriate policy for including project work in the existing assessment system.
Key Words: Project based learning, Procedures of creating projects, roles of teachers, project based assessment and learning mathematics.
3. Amrit Poudel
Feminism as a referent for mathematics teacher professional development (Teacher Professional Development)
This study narrates possible reasons for my motivations towards culture sensitive mathematics teaching. It focused on my journey to gender sensitive and culturally inclusive mathematics pedagogy for Nepali Schools. My journey starts from ‘anti-motherly’ (sic) mathematics pedagogy and transforms into culturally responsive and gender sensitive teacher, researcher and teacher educator. I have used critical auto\ethnography as a method of research and writing to connect personal to the cultural, placing self within a social context. Agreeing with Freire’s notion of conscientization, which is strictly connected with his notion of “authentic praxis”, an approach to learning that involves a combination of action, reflection and imagining, I can see its potential of helping our mathematics education to be more motherly (i.e., inclusive, meaningful and life skills-oriented). It is a spiritual awakening to find the clear knowledge of Divine Feminine as a nature or earth. For me, education is inquriy and inquiry is education and it is a new way of conceptualizing the curricular goal of education . While mathematics education is inquiry, it also focuses on meaning making, and it goes further. In Harste’s world, ‘the inquiry’ is search for ever broader connections. Writing as inquiry is a tool for thinking rather than a skill to be mastered.
4. Binod P. Pant & Punary Phuyal
Discourse between two paradigms of school mathematics curriculum: conventionality Vs post/modernity (Curriculum)
The great physicist C. P. Snow (1959) of Cambridge University, in his book, The Two Cultures, a Second Look (1964) explained about the existence of two distinct cultures within our society, the arts and the sciences. These two distinct cultures have own standpoints in promoting and improving teaching and learning of mathematics through different approaches. The one who believes society as an entity of pure natural science, it takes mathematics as a pure body of knowledge. Memorization of facts as well as the ability to follow rules are the students’ role (Hiebert, 2003), and to provide clear-cut and step-by-step demonstration are the teachers’ duty. In this approach, teachers advocate behaviorist approach as taken for granted, and the textbooks are taken as the ultimate authority from whence “the answers to all mathematical problems are known and found” (Smith, 1996). The paper pencil test measures the memorization of the facts and focuses on “routine problems”. On the other hand, who believes cultures as an art, it takes knowledge can be constructed. It aims at assisting students in utilizing their own unique backgrounds and experiences to develop a personal understanding of mathematical situations. This is known as constructivism where students involve in a new task with prior knowledge, assimilate new information, and, subsequently, construct their own meaning (Amit and Fried 2002). As children construct their own understanding based on the relationship between prior knowledge, existing ideas, and new experiences, the facilitator should encourage “to construct with new ideas, to work at fitting them into existing networks, and to challenge their own ideas and those of others” (Van De Walle 2007). In this approach, it is widely accepted that the learner must herself/himself actively explore mathematical concepts in order to build the necessary structures of understanding, it then follows that teaching mathematics must be reconceived as the provision of meaningful problems designed to encourage and facilitate the constructive process” (Schifter and Fosnot, 1993). This paper aims to bring a discourse between the above two paradigms of teaching mathematics.
5. Amrit Thapa
Myths of mathematical intelligence and
dis/empowering pedagogy of teaching: A critical auto/ethnographic inquiry
It was an evocative experience for me to have conducted a research on the topic “Math teachers’ beliefs, experiences and democratic practices in mathematics classroom”, as part of qualification of Master of Education. Employing Auto/Ethnographic research approach (Willis, 2007) enabled me to excavate my own beliefs and practices including the research participants. Astonishingly the inquiry indicated that the teachers’ beliefs about ‘innate math talent/intelligence’ was so deeply ingrained in practice that the learning environment was creating a form of class struggle between ‘is intelligent’ and ‘is not intelligent’. Teachers’ beliefs largely emphasized on mathematical knowledge as abstract, formal and absolute promoting text book centred assessment to distinguish student math-ability and hence the discriminatory pedagogy of teaching. Working as a teacher educator, university student and university faculty gave me ample opportunity to explore deeper into the beliefs of math teachers. These experiences have enabled me to draw my attention towards a serious form of discrimination, suppression and hence the cultural oppression (Freire, 1993) in the classroom. It is terrible to know that the universalisation or de/contextualization (Luitel, Taylor, 2010) of mathematical knowledge creates uninteresting pedagogy of mathematics forcing students to develop a sense of giftedness hence putting themselves into one of the two compartments, the gifted and not-gifted. Unconvincing categorization of students with innate intelligence (Gardner,1983) by means of narrowly defined academic math courses has been promoting unjust and dis-empowering pedagogy of mathematics teaching/learning thereby endorsing violence against democracy and peace. After rigorous research I have come to the stand that intelligence cannot be narrowly defined (Robinson, 2006) and hence cannot be measured through narrowly structured assessment tools.
6. Tulshi Ram Pandey
Teaching Mathematics: A Shift in Terms of Applying Participatory Pedagogies (Teacher Professional Development)
This paper entitled “Teaching Mathematics: A Shift in Terms of Applying Participatory Pedagogies” is an autoethnographic inquiry which aims to excavate experiences that I have gained in the journey of teaching and learning of mathematics. In this paper, I focus on pedagogical growth and changes that I have witnessed from my early years of profession as a primary teacher to my most recent arrival in this research work. This epic journey has also seen the moments of failure that I could not make in pedagogical shifts visible, despite my frequent attempts in trying to apply participatory pedagogies in mathematics teaching based on my ideals of transformative learning.
To articulate my visions about teaching and learning of mathematics as a student and as a teacher, I have used autoethnography, the method and genre of my research. Furthermore, I have drawn on the theory of radical constructivism that regards knowledge as a result of an individual’s constructive activity guided by seeing the viabilities rather than sticking in the validity. With this, I employed “small p” philosophical inquiry that gives emphasis on the personal meaning making and meaning seeking process.
7. Ramesh Neupane
On becoming an arts-informed teacher of mathematics (pedagogy)
Being mathematics teacher of the post-modern (?) era, this is my responsibility to reflect, critic and enhance my practices and see the new possibilities from more than ‘3600 angles’ of social, professional and personal life. For me post-modern philosophy means an acceptance of multiple perspectives offering new ways of seeing through mathematics, teachers and learners (Ernest, 2012). I am here to explore a series of experiences that I had and I am having. The main goal of this article is to explore possibilities of teaching mathematics in more comprehensive ways in Nepal through post-modern thought and actions.
8. Binod Pd. Pant
Teachers' Professional Development through Self-reflection
Self- reflection is about thinking over own actions and acting in interaction with the environment, and with the colleagues, which can have inner dialogue with him/herself. For a teacher, it requires honesty to oneself and to other people; it can be very useful due to verisimilitude nature in different psychological and pedagogical aspects in the classroom. As it modifies the practices towards the better every time, it is widely accepted that reflection is a crucial in the professional development. While doing so, it creates a sense of empowerment, self-realization and solidarity to the teachers. So, it is taken as a agent of change (Artzt, 2002). I believe that the better teaching approach cannot be generated over night; it is neither a ready-mate stuff to apply as it is from someone experience nor it is skill, nor can be developed from a session in a conference or in training. It is a continuous process, which can be developed through observing ones' own practices. Pollard and Tann (1993) believe that, "the process of reflection feeds a constructive spiral of professional development and competence” (p. 4). Reflection is definitely a vital skill as it can be considered to be a key to teacher development. It can be either intuitive or systematic and organized; it enables teachers to become aware of their weak and strong points. Absence of such awareness would make a further teacher grow impossible. Reflection should “lead to the conscious development of insights into knowing-in-action” (Wallace, 1991 p. 13). This paper aims to bring the importance of personal reflection for teacher development and its' usefulness and popularity in transformative education research (Luitel, 2009).
Key Words: self-reflection, knowing-in-action, transformative education research
9. Pundary Phuyal
Reconceptualizing "teaching experiment" in mathematics
Being a mathematics teacher in school level for more than ten years, I believe that my students need to go beyond making thinks "products". They need to develop creative mathematical thinking and problem solving skills and I am the one who is responsible for building strong foundations to my students. Otherwise, students' new demands cannot be met through passive, rote-oriented learning focused on basic skills and memorization of disconnected facts. We need mathematics learning that" enables critical thinking, flexible problem solving, transfer of skills and use of knowledge in new situations" (Darling – Hammod, 2008, p.2). The activities of doing mathematics should be viewed with a playful attitude and confidence. But, how can I promote such a playful attitude? I, perhaps, have to design such a technique that investigates my students' mathematical knowledge and how it might be learned in the context of mathematics teaching. I perhaps need such type of teaching methodology, which is lived. I investigate in order to improve learning in my classrooms and beyond, which is, I believe, "Teaching Experiment Methodology". In this paper, I discuss about teaching experiment methodology, its' usefulness in mathematics classroom and its' affect to the students' learning.
10. Indramani Shrestha
Transforming mathematics education landscape from de-contextualize to contextualize
11. Surendra Singh Thagunna
Significance of geometry: Relating geometry with real life (pedagogy)
Geometry is very useful in our daily life. The study of geometry has started right from the human civilization. But, many of us, including me, have bitter experiences in learning and teaching geometry. A significant number of students show dissatisfaction in geometry, and they do not secure good grade from geometry portion. I realized that geometry teaching is a challenging job. Therefore, I came to write this paper, which presents an overview of the attitudes of learners and teachers towards teaching learning of geometry as well as trends and challenges of teaching learning methods of geometry in Nepal. Yet more, this paper depicts the real scenario of the problems faced by the people in their daily lives due to lack of geometrical knowledge and thus tries to relate theoretical concepts of geometry with daily life problems. This paper aims to develop an insight into learners, teachers and other professionals about the significance of geometry in real life and the ways of making geometry classroom more enjoyable and effective with the various practical problems.
12. Satya Raj Joshi
Recovering individualized teaching through humanistic nature of mathematics (pedagogy)
The paper aims to explore the distinction between mathematics education that ethically applies in existing versions of mathematics and mathematics education that seeks to recast mathematics as an unavoidably and undeniably humanistic enterprise. The essence of this paper is to seek the possibilities of linking mathematics with the aesthetic activities of human where I present my understating of god, beauty and truth. This paper advocates to the beliefs that human society have close relationship to the formal mathematical models, and mathematics is/for human society developed by the same society. I do not believe that mathematical formalism is an alien language, which exist somewhere else than our society. More generally, I believe this paper would be helpful for anyone who is curious about the nature of mathematical and humanistic thought and their relationship to the universe.
13. Surendra Mishra
Beliefs and practices of mathematics teacher as a means for transforming teacher identity (Teacher Professional Development)
In this paper, I will address different aspects of my research that examines Beliefs and practices of mathematics teacher as a means for transforming identity. Since my research is about teacher identity and beliefs and its effects on practices, so I would share my experiences of teaching and learning mathematics (especially algebra) as a teacher as well as a student. I will share my experience as a teacher as well as student by describing the events in the form of stories. I will include two stories as a teacher and as a student.
14. Surendra Prasad Singh
Application of information Technology in the Mathematics Classroom
Application of technology in the classroom cannot be avoided. Technology is developed and available at reasonable price and knowledge of technology can be combined to improve teaching of international level. According to Piaget knowledge is constructed through assimilation, accommodation, and equilibrium.ICT can help to improve teaching learning by using multimedia in the classroom. The process can be improved by providing prerequisites, prompt feedback of ineffective learning strategies. This paper will try to show with help of slides how teaching of geometry with ICT can save time and energy but with clarity.
15. Ruma Manandhar
Can Abstract Algebra be taught meaningfully?
This paper, being focused in learning of abstract algebraic structure group, tries to deal on the overall understanding process followed by the students, their difficulties, different levels of understanding to be connected for making students able to produce a proof based on an empirical study.
16. Bedraj Acharya
Pedagogical Practices in the Mathematics Classroom at Primary School in Nepal: A Cultural Perspective
In this article, I have articulated mathematics classroom practice in Nepalese schools. The main purpose of my study was to explore classroom practices in mathematics in diverse cultural setting. I adopted ethnographic approach to inquiry to describe the realities about classroom practices of mathematics teaching and learning. The classroom teaching - learning situation was observed on the basis of the classroom episodes. I observed classroom episodes / practices of three schools of the Kathmandu Valley to achieve the research objective. I obtained the different data texts from my potential participants. Then, I discussed the data texts from different sociological perspectives with my critical reflection. It was found that lecture-based teaching activities, less participatory teaching, and lack of teachers' knowledge to teach mathematics in the different cultural setting were the major factors for not facilitating learning mathematics in culturally diverged classroom environment. Teachers were theoretically familiar about the student- centered, participatory, child friendly and democratic classroom. However, in practice, they were not successful in applying these techniques in the actual classroom.
17. Raghubir Bhatta
Implication of Constructivism Teaching Theory on Classroom Teaching
Constructivism learning theory is the further development as behaviorism arrives at cognitivism. According to its teaching theory: knowledge is uncertain; the learning process of knowledge is also the construction process of knowledge; students are the main body of learning activity and they construct knowledge on their own initiatives; teachers are the helpers and the drivers for students constructing knowledge. These views generate more implications for Nepal’s teaching reform, what affect the reform of learning theory and teaching theory in a sense and turn into the theoretical base for our education reform. This article tries to probe into the implication of constructivism teaching theory on our school teaching. This article is the product of writer's intervention in higher secondary school teaching of Mathematics.
18. Harsh B. Chanda
Analysis of errors on solving problems from geometry course of secondary level
Teaching and learning Euclidean geometry in school level is problematic from many decades. So, many researches have been conducted in this area. This article presents results of research conducted to attain objective 'to analyze and interpret errors committed by secondary school students in solving problems from geometry'. The research was conducted by using written test, interview schedule (Newman) and interview schedule (van Hiele). The result shows that maximum students were found in lower level of van Hiele model of thinking than the required level of thinking to solve problem so that maximum errors were occurred in either comprehension or transformation level.
19. Bishnu Khanal
Teaching Styles perceived by primary level mathematics students
The study was conducted to investigate primary school students’ perception of their teachers’ teaching styles. The observation, interview and researcher’s introspection were different tools adopted for the collection of information. The study was guided by learning theories: cognitivism, behaviorisms, and constructivism. The study concluded that the primary teacher’s teaching style was perceived as indifferent and authoritarian types.
