The different approaches of teaching mathematics : A qualitative study of three teachers teaching methods in matematics

There is a constant change in the world of school, new curricula and syllabi are made and the view of teaching and learning is changing. The desire to improve maths teaching in Swedish schools is strong, especially by laboratory work. How is it then that several teachers in our schools are still using the traditional way of teaching mathematics, which I consider to be relying a lot on the textbook and work for an automated approach? The purpose of my study is to investigate how three different math teachers on an F-5 school in the southern Stockholm area, choose to work with mathematics and why they choose to work according to a special approach. In order to obtain the information I seek, I have chosen to use the qualitative method to get a better understanding of my results. I have both observed the teachers during mathematics lessons on multiple occasions and interviewed the three teachers individually. The theories I have chosen to support my thesis on are the socio-cultural perspective and the cognitive perspective. Based on the results of my investigation I found that teaching in general assumes a lot from the textbook. Teachers in the survey feel a sense of security, to build upon the textbook, which they consider covers much of the knowledge students should have. The teachers use the textbook as a base and complements with laboratory features and communicate mathematics. The approach they choose to use has a lot of time allocated for teaching mathematics. Time isn’t enough for all the teachers to do what they want and they are worried that students will forget the basics of mathematics. Even the large number of students in the class plays the role of the choice of working, because all students should have time to develop