An analysis of teaching processes in mathematics education for adults

Abstract

This study explored the teaching processes in mathematics education for
 adults and how they are shaped by certain social and institutional forces. Teaching
 processes included the selection and ordering of content to be taught; the choice of
 such techniques as lectures or groupwork; the expectations, procedures and norms
 of the classroom; and the complex web of interactions between teachers and learners,
 and between learners themselves. The study addressed three broad questions: (1)
 What happens in adult mathematics classrooms? (2) What do these phenomena
 mean for those involved as teachers or learners? and (3) In what ways do certain
 factors beyond the teachers’ control affect teaching processes?
 The theoretical framework linked macro and micro approaches to the study of
 teaching, and offered an analytical perspective that showed how teachers’ thoughts
 and actions can be influenced and circumscribed by external factors. Further, it
 provided a framework for an analysis of the ways in which teaching processes were
 viewed, described, chosen, developed, and constrained by certain “frame” factors.
 The study was based in a typical setting for adult mathematics education: a
 community college providing a range of ABE-level mathematics courses for adults.
 Three introductory-level courses were selected and data collected from teachers and
 students in these courses, as well as material that related to the teaching and
 learning of mathematics within the college. The study used a variety of data
 collection methods in addition to document collection: surveys of teachers’ and
 adult learners’ attitudes, repeated semi-structured interviews with teachers and
 learners, and extensive ethnographic observations in several mathematics classes.
 The teaching of mathematics was dominated by the transmission of facts and
 procedures, and largely consisted of repetitious activities and tests. Teachers were
 pivotal in the classroom, making all the decisions that related in any way to
 mathematics education. They rigidly followed the set textbooks, allowing them to
 determine both the content and the process of mathematics education. Teachers
 claimed that they wished to develop motivation and responsibility for learning in
 their adult students, yet provided few practical opportunities for such development
 to occur. Few attempts were made to encourage students, or to check whether they
 understood what they were being asked to do. Mathematical problems were often
 repetitious and largely irrelevant to adult students’ daily lives. Finally, teachers
 “piloted” students through problem-solving situations, via a series of simple
 questions, designed to elicit a specific “correct” method of solution, and a single
 correct calculation. One major consequence of these predominant patterns was that
 the overall approach to mathematics education was seen as appropriate, valid, and
 successful. The notion of success, however, can be questioned.
 In sum, mathematics teaching can best be understood as situationally-
 constrained choice. Within their classrooms, teachers have some autonomy to act yet
 their actions are influenced by certain external factors. These influences act as
 frames, bounding and constraining classroom teaching processes and forcing
 teachers to adopt a conservative approach towards education. As a result, the
 cumulative effects of all of frame factors reproduced the status quo and ensured that
 the form and provision of mathematics education remained essentially unchanged.

Education, Faculty of

Graduate