Using vignettes in mathematics education teacher training programmes and research

19th November 2019 : 16:00 - 17:30

Seminar Abstract

 

This seminar will outline the aims of the co-reflect@maths.eu project, a joint Erasmus + Strategic Partnership investigation between six universities across four countries. Each institution is involved in the education of teacher trainees and the professional development of in-service teachers and teacher educators. A connecting element between the researchers is their variable use of vignettes (text, video, cartoon) as representations of practice for providing stimulus to reflect and discuss realistic contexts and problems related to mathematics classrooms. An example of how vignettes have been used effectively as a research method for eliciting value-laden constructs such as teacher beliefs and understandings and how these influence teacher practices will also be presented. For research purposes, it is important to achieve methodological rigour when using vignettes as this helps to satisfy internal validity and support findings. To this end, a vignette framework which identifies key elements for vignette construction (conception, design and administration) will be discussed which provides researchers with guidance about the construction and use of vignettes when using this method to gain insights about particular phenomena.