MULTIMODALITY TALKS SERIES - Lisa Björklund Boistrup

Abstract:

In this talk I will elaborate on mathematisation and roles of different communicational resources, mainly drawing on a multimodal social semiotic perspective. On one hand, the notion that mathematics may be expressed through a broad range of communicational resources (e.g. symbols, speech, pictures) may seem obvious and indisputable, not the least as part of the learning and teaching of mathematics in classroom practices. On the other hand, I make the point that we have something to learn from specifically researching ways of expressing mathematics. The interest that I am exploring, and will reflect on during the talk, is how mathematisations, in classroom practice and in society, may be expressed, and what the consequences of different ways of expressing mathematics may be for students, teachers and researchers in mathematics education. From a multimodal social-semiotic perspective, a change of communicational resources from, for example, pictures and speech into mathematical symbols, may, in fact, also affect the “what” that is communicated, such as the mathematical content. In my talk, I will discuss this in more detail.

Note on Bio:

Lisa Björklund Boistrup, PhD, is Professor in Mathematics Education, and Head of Research at the department of Science, Mathematics and Society, Malmö University. Her research covers critical perspectives on assessment, feedback and communication in mathematics classrooms, and interfaces between mathematics and vocational teaching content. In her research she adopts designs for learning, with an interest in institutional framings and the roles of modes, such as writing, symbols, images and the like, in interactions. She has led a number of research projects, carried out in and outside schools (for example, workplaces).