Complex Tasks: Potentials and Pitfalls

Abstract

Life in today’s world is characterized by complexity and rapid change. Twenty-first century skills and especially mathematical understanding are supposed to crucially contribute to meeting the demands of our world since mathematics offers strategies to structure or simplify complex problems. An open question is which teaching practices are appropriate to provide all students with such skills and to broaden the participation of underprivileged students. The present article explores these aspects by focusing on complex tasks, a practice that can be considered highly accepted in the context of mathematics education all over the world. We will concentrate on the perspective of the German mathematics education community as the foundation of our considerations. Based on an analytical investigation of mathematical literacy and twenty-first century skills (such as creativity, critical thinking, or problem-solving), we will address central ideas and characteristics of complex mathematical tasks. To complement the analytical approach, we will illustrate their characteristics as well as possible intersections with twenty-first century skills by presenting an elementary school teaching experiment. Finally, we will critically discuss the potentials and pitfalls of complex mathematical tasks from an abstract perspective and conclude by debating practical consequences for organizing mathematical learning-teaching-processes.

Improving Methodic Competence of Primary School Mathematics Teachers on Self-Directed Learning in Latvia

“…Profesionālā kompetence ietver sevī pamatzināšanu, prasmju un sasniedzamā rezultāta definēšanu katrai matemātikas tēmai atbilstoši didaktikas un audzināšanas likumsakarībām (Mencis, 1993). Pētnieciskā kompetence ir saistīta ne tikai ar inovāciju radīšanu un īstenošanu praksē, bet arī ar metodiskās pieredzes veidošanu, risinot kompleksus matemātikas uzdevumus jaunās situācijās un kontekstā (Bohlmann & Benölken, 2020;Selvi, 2010). Skolēni sagatavojami jēgpilni un rūpīgi lietot matemātiskos instrumentus, veikt aprēķinus; apstrādāt datus; lietot figūru īpašības; spriest vispārīgi un matemātiski modelēt; problēmsituācijās izvēlties atbilstošu pieeju/ stratēģiju; apzināties pierādījuma nepieciešamību; veidot pamatotus spriedumus (Matemātika 1.-9. klasei, 2018).…”