Uses different methods to teach maths – gets surprisingly good results – news Troms and Finnmark

In the classroom for the 9th graders, no one sits at the desks. Everyone stands around the blackboards on the walls and solves the task they have been given by the teacher. – I think everyone works better in such a group than sitting at the PC, because then you can quickly start playing, says Lea Louise Akselsen from Sandnes and Bjørnevatn school in Sør-Varanger. This results in them scoring among the best in the whole of Troms and Finnmark. In the 8th grade, they have 52 points on national tests in maths, while the national average is 50 points. This is even though Finnmark has historically scored the worst on national tests in Norway. The talk goes on There is a lot of talk in the classroom. But that is because the pupils discuss the task in their groups. If they are stuck, they talk to the neighboring group. – It doesn’t work to just look at others to get the answer, because then we don’t learn anything ourselves, says Mia Madeleine Lissner. – We must have an explanation when Pål comes around. And then we don’t have an explanation if we copy others, adds Sofie Kildemo. 9th grade at Sandnes og Bjørnevatn school learn mathematics by being active in the classroom. Photo: Kristin Humstad / news On top of all this, teacher Pål Harald Hansen moves around the classroom. He visits each group 10–15 times during the lesson and asks questions about how the pupils solve the task. In this way, none of the pupils are forgotten in class, he believes. – It is very difficult to be invisible because it requires so much participation from everyone as they spar with each other. How do you like to learn best? Go around and discuss in groups Sit behind the desk and listen to the teacher Show results The board is central It was Sør-Varanger newspaper that first wrote about the class in Aust-Finnmark and how they learn mathematics. Teacher Pål Harald Hansen goes around to the various groups in the classroom. He gets to talk to each group many times before the lesson is over. Photo: Kristin Humstad / news – There is a lot of activity. I see what the students understand and don’t understand. There is a large degree of collaboration, and not least the mathematical conversation dominates the session, says the teacher. The method is based on Swedish research where you use what is called thinking classrooms. In teaching, blackboards are used, which help the pupils to visualize the procedure and work in teams. – The students have to think. And when we can trigger concentration and thinking, we get learning, says Hansen. Adapting to today’s needs The thinking classroom method involves getting the pupils to think for themselves. Don’t just do what the teacher says and find the answer quickly. – With the help of the vertical boards and the group divisions, the pupils get the chance to think and discuss mathematics in a completely different way than they have done before, says Kjersti Wæge, head of the Mathematics Center at NTNU. The research group has seen that the pupils begin to think about mathematics more easily. – They start talking to each other more easily, try their hand at reasoning and explaining, than if they sit at a table and work. Kjersti Wæge, head of the Mathematics Center at NTNU. Photo: NTNU The method is not new. The Mathematics Center has long had a collaboration with Swedish researcher Peter Liljedahl, and his textbook is in the process of being translated into Norwegian. Then Wæge believes that it will be easier for teachers in this country to use it. – I think that within a very short time, many more teachers will come to use him. Must major changes until Pål Harald Hansen was allowed to introduce the method at the school in 2019 when he started his master’s at UiT Norway’s Arctic University. Since then, the department has seen a positive development. – This method is based on understanding. And national tests check the student’s mathematical understanding. I know that they understand what they do with the boards here, and this knowledge is still with the pupils, says Pål Harald Hansen. Not all tasks can be used for working with blackboards. The task should require several calculations and have several ways of solving it. Photo: Kristin Humstad / news The teacher also uses the traditional method where he stands at a blackboard and explains the subject. But it usually doesn’t take more than five minutes. The change in the classroom shows the changes that have taken place in society, the teacher believes. – Society is different. Other things are required to succeed. Also being able to find new things and stay in a problem for a long time.



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