Teaching mathematics in a physical environment: Act, react, or avoid?

Abstract in English

This thesis aims to contribute to the body of knowledge regarding teachers’ experience of and perspective on the elements and aspects of the physical environment connected to teaching and learning in general and in mathematics in particular. Teachers are an underutilised source of knowledge in research on the physical environment. In mathematics education, this research is often limited to tools and artefacts.

The data in the thesis comes from semi-structured interviews with mathematics teachers, a systematic literature search for mathematics research related to the physical environment, and an online survey where teachers assessed classroom descriptions for teaching adequacy. The interview data was analysed using narrative analysis and content analysis. The research publications from the literature search were analysed with an extension of the didactical triangle as an analytical tool. This tool was also used to analyse the interview data a second time. Conjoint analysis was used to analyse the data from the online survey.

The thesis makes two methodological contributions. The first is the extension of the didactical triangle, which makes the interactions between the teacher, the students, the learning content, and the elements and aspects of the physical environment visible. The second is the novel application of conjoint analysis, which enables the analysis of the relative importance of a few seemingly equally important aspects of the physical school environment.

The results contribute to understanding three types of situations. Under enabling physical conditions, teachers can act as desired, and under hindering conditions, they react and adjust the activity or avoid it altogether. The results also show that classroom acoustics, spaciousness, and freedom of movement are most important for teachers.

In conclusion, this understanding of the role of the physical environment in the teaching and learning situation is vital for daily educational practice.