Applying Mathematical Tasks on Measures Strand and Promoting Classroom Interaction to Develop Students’ Cognitive Skills and Mathematical Ability

Leung King Man 
(University of East Anglia, Norwich, UK)

Abstract: How well students learn mathematics and what teachers’ teaching strategies used to facilitate students’ effective mathematical learning have been a concern in Hong Kong since the implementation of the new curriculum in 2002. Major curriculum reform and changes are the role of the teacher as a facilitator in the classroom, to help students develop cognitive skills and to foster students’ learning interest and motivation in mathematics. The reform propels teachers towards a paradigm shift from a largely textbook-based teacher-centred approach to a more interactive and learner-centred approach. The purpose of this study is to examine the teaching and learning of mathematics through adopting high-level mathematical tasks in the Hong Kong primary classroom. Nowadays, teachers largely still use the textbook in a routine, chalk and talk mode as the main material for the introduction and consolidation of mathematical concepts by students. These teachers’ classrooms are dominated by traditional teaching practices. In addition, researches and the mathematics curriculum reform documentation suggest that a learner-focused approach is a means to meet the best interests of learners. This paper deals with successes and difficulties six teachers go through in two schools as they move on to a student-centred approach by applying mathematical tasks and classroom discussion to develop students’ cognitive skills and mathematical ability.

Key words: mathematics education, curriculum reform, cognitive skills, classroom interaction, mathematical task