Craig Barton interviews guests from the wonderful world of education about their approaches to teaching, educational research and more. All show notes, resources and videos here: https://www.mrbartonmaths.com/blog/
The aim of this Research in Action series is to take a look at some of the most innovative research going on in the field of mathematics education, and consider what the implications are for the classroom.
For more information about today’s guest, plus links to the websites, resources and ideas they mention, please visit the show notes page: http://www.mrbartonmaths.com/blog/research-in-action-9-phds-and-maths-textbooks-with-beth-woollacott/
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This Research in Action series of the Mr Barton Maths Podcast is kindly supported by Oxford Revise GCSE Maths.
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Hello, and welcome to another episode of the Mr Barton Maths Podcast, with me Craig Barton.
This is an episode from the Research in Action mini series, where I interview a researcher from the Mathematics Education Centre at Loughborough University about their chosen area of interest, and the implications for maths teaching and learning.
On today’s episode I was lucky enough to speak to Beth Woollacott
Beth completed her BSc in Mathematics at Royal Holloway University of London, and then received a four year studentship from the ESRC DTP and came to Loughborough in October 2017. In her first year, she completed a Masters in Social Sciences, and she is now just beginning her PhD in the second year of her studentship.
In this conversation we discussed:
- What is life doing a PhD in educational research like, and what tips does Beth have for anyone considering it
- Beth’s main focus – textbook design and exposition
- What do students actually value in a textbook? And there are fascinating insights into the role of the Split-Attention Effect and active voice.
You can find out more about Loughborough University’s funded PhD studentships in the Mathematics Education Centre here
Beth’s Big 3
1. Barbara Sarniker – The writing workshop
2. Understanding maths textbooks using reading oriented theory
3. Why You Should Ignore All That Coronavirus-Inspired Productivity Pressure
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My usual plugs:
- My online courses are here: craigbarton.podia.com
- My books are “Reflect, Expect, Check, Explain” and “How I wish I’d taught maths”
- If you are interested in sponsoring an episode of the show, then drop me an email at [email protected]
- You can help support the show via my Patreon page at patreon.com/mrbartonmaths
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Thanks for this interesting podcast on textbooks. I can confirm that textbook use and perception is quite different in England from e.g. France (where I’m from). I wrote about it here:
medium.com/dr-alice-g-on-education/textbooks-6f08980584a1