Lek och lärande : En studie av vad lärare och elever associerar ett laborativt arbetssätt i matematik med

Sammanfattning: During recent years, the trend of Swedish students’ negative performance and results in mathematics has been discussed. It is agreed that a change in teaching methods is necessary in order to solve this issue. Thus we found it interesting to take a closer look at an alternative way of teaching. The purpose of this study was to find out what teachers and students associate concrete mathematics with and make a comparison between them. A qualitative method based on interviews was used to reach the purpose. The data was analyzed and the result was that two groups took form: Knowledge and Game. Both teachers and students agree on the fact that concrete mathematics brings a positive variation into the classroom and motivates the students. Concrete mathematics also contributes with practicing, collaboration and discussions. The most distinctive difference between teachers and students’ associations is their view on knowledge. On one hand the teachers claimed that concrete mathematics contributes with better learning, but on the other hand the students claimed that they learn better or just as well by using workbooks in mathematics. The study also showed that students tended to see concrete mathematics as if it were a game. Based on this result we think that it is important that the teachers have a clear purpose with their teaching methods and make the students aware of their purpose. We claim that this is decisive in order to make the students feel that their activities are meaningful.