Students’ attitudes develop negatively during the school years, while according to the curriculum, they should be supported and stay positive. The recent Finnish curriculum provides new opportunities to improve mathematics education practices to meet these expectations. However, it is shown that the teachers are not that familiar with teaching practices supporting more student engagement. Many teachers are not very familiar with the ideas of investigative learning, and problem based practices are not used commonly. One reason for this is that teachers’ own experiences do not align very well with the ideas established after their own school years.
According to the research project initiated by the University of Edinburgh, some of the key competences the teachers should acquire in order to refresh their practices is their ability to listen to their students’ ideas and discussions. The Listen to me project is a follow up to that research. In the project, the goal is to help teachers acknowledge and benefit from the spontaneous situations the students initiate. Within the project, an intervention material is developed. The material will be shared with other teachers as a teaching material and as a tool to engage in professional development.
Project leader
Senior university lecturer Laura Tuohilampi, University of Helsinki
Other researchers
Simona Savin-Gardberg, University of Helsinki
Sebastian Holsti, University of Helsinki
Prof. Andrea English, University of Edinburgh
Funding
Svenska tekniska vetenskapsakademien i Finland
Cooperation
The Finnish National Ministry of Education
The city of Porvoo
Laura Tuohilampi, laura.tuohilampi@helsinki.fi, +358 50 599 7216