Opportunities for Method Competence Development of Mathematics Teachers: The Role of Participation in Competitions with Colleagues

Abstract

The article contains explanations of the importance of developing the competence of teachers with teaching mathematics and introduces the idea of constructive approximation of the methodical activity of school teachers and lecturers of pedagogical universities. It describes certain features of the Ukrainian system of methodical training of future mathematics teachers at pedagogical universities. The objective of the study is to experimentally discover the influence of teachersp articipation in special geometry teaching competitions on the methodological development of practicing and future mathematics teachers. For the purposes of the study, the Vinnytsia State Pedagogical University hosted a competition of geometry teaching methodological findings for practicing teachers and a methodological skills contest for future math teachers in 2017, 2018, and 2019. We surveyed 32 participants of the above competitions. Practicing math teachers have laid stress upon the high quality of discussions on current problems of teaching geometry, new opportunities to share the experience gained, the high level of expertise and recognition of their own ideas about teaching geometry within the cooperation with the Pedagogical University organized by us. Future mathematics teachers have indicated the growing interest in future methodical activities at school, decided upon their own own aspirations for methodological development. The main conclusions: the educational environment for training the future mathematics teachers at the university should promptly respond to the new requirements for methodical performance of a teacher of the modern school; future math teachers have more opportunities for methodological development in specially created conditions of communication with experienced practicing teachers; practicing math teachers have more opportunities for methodological self-development in the process of active discussion of methodological issues with future teachers, lecturers of pedagogical universities, and scientists in the field of mathematics teaching methodology. We bring your attention to topicality of the problem of math teachers' creative approach to teaching, their willingness to comprehend, analyze and adopt innovations.

University Degree and Citizen Science: The Necessity for Promotion of the Latter and the Possibilities of Its Organization in the Teachers’ Professional Training

“…Th e results of the survey of the participants of the contest before and aft er its holding showed an increase in the interest of the vast majority of students in methodological science, in future activities at school. Some students, having won this contest, decided on their own aspirations and intentions to study for a master's degree in the future of scientifi c research (Matiash & Mykhailenko, 2020).…”

“…Th e results of theoretical, methodological and applied research prove that the research approach in the training of future teachers ensures the development and functioning of pedagogical professional education at a qualitatively new level (Brovchak et al, 2018), (Kolomiiets et al, 2020), (Matiash & Mykhailenko, 2020), (Klochko et al, 2020). However, neither in the theory nor in the practice of the Ukrainian pedagogical education the powerful potential of citizen science is of particular signifi cance.…”

Mathematics Teacher’s Methodical Competence Development in the Conditions of the University and School Partnership

“…Our research prompted us to analyze foreign teachers' professional development systems. The international pedagogical community is actively discussing opportunities for cooperation in the professional development of teachers (Robutti et al, 2016;Erens et al, 2019;Vanblaere et al, 2021;Mykhailenko, 2021), the possibility of introducing new collaboration technologies that can contribute to the more effective formation and development of methodological competence of mathematics teachers (Daemen et al, 2020;Jackson et al, 2018;Martin et al, 2018;Matiash et al, 2020;Zelkowski et al, 2020;Kolomiiets et al, 2017;Kolomiiets et al, 2020).…”

Testing the effectiveness of the designing and applying process with certain circumstances in geometry teaching

“…Thus, this method could improve a better understanding of the mean for learning math (Dan et al, 2020). On the basis of students' ability to apply knowledge to real situations, we want to test the effectiveness of the process of designing and applying geometry teaching (Gutiérrez-Rubio et al, 2020;Matiash & Mykhailenko, 2020;.…”