Guideline to reflect on the education functions and improve their teaching

• Published in: Alteridad (Cuenca, Ecuador) Vol. 19; no. 1; pp. 45 - 56
• Main Authors: Rodríguez, Neus Inglada, Breda, Adriana, Sala-Sebastià, Gemma
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Cuenca Universidad Politécnica Salesiana del Ecuador 01-01-2024
• Subjects: Didacticism; Education; Epistemology; Mathematics; Mathematics teachers; Secondary education; Teaching; Teaching Methods
• ISSN: 1390-325X; 1390-8642
• DOI: 10.17163/alt.v19n1.2024.04

Teachers should have the competence to reflect on their own practice. The Ontosemiotic Approach offers as a tool for this purpose the "Didactic Suitability Criteria". The objectives of the research are to refine the indicators of epistemic suitability (ES) and to deepen the epistemic dimension of the meta-didactic-mathematical knowledge of secondary school mathematics teachers in initial training. To this end, research on the object function in secondary education has been examined. In a mixed way, we have analysed, in 119 "Master's Dissertation (MD) in Secondary Education Mathematics Teachers in service Training (Catalonia, Spain)" on functions, the reflection that future teachers make on their teaching, from the ES. Based on these analyses, the adequacy of the epistemic suitability for analysing the mathematical object function is designed. Finally, the MDs are reanalysed with this new guideline and it is found that their reflections present important weaknesses that could influence the quality of their instructional processes. It is concluded that if mathematics teachers were provided with a specialised guideline that makes it easier for them to consider all the meanings, representations and processes involved in the complexity of the functions, as well as the mathematical practices in which these emerge, it would improve the quality of the design, implementation, and reflection on their instructional processes.