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Article Review (Identity As A Mathematicalthinker)
Article Review (Identity As A Mathematicalthinker)
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From the constructivist point of view education plays a fundamental role in development of the individual
– provides his survival, adaptation. It is cultural process, instead of biological. There is a transformation
“the person natural” into “the person cultural”(Borisov, 2014). Education purpose: is expansion from
the sphere of consciousness to level of “Absolute thought”. This thought exists irrespective of
This article “Identity as a Mathematical Thinker” was written by a famous researcher Kay Owens.
Throughout my reading of this article, the author pointed out that pre-service teachers developed their
identity as self-regulating learners through setting goals, planning, organizing, recording, self-evaluating,
and structuring their learning environment. In addition, the mathematical social context provided by the
tutorial group and use of technology impacted on self-regulation and social identity and hence on pre-
The basis of her argument is that teacher education students need to become self-regulated,
confident learners with a sense of ownership of their mathematical problem solving in order to identify as
mathematical thinkers (Owens, 2007). According to Stacey (2006), mathematical thinking is not only
important for solving mathematical problems and for learning mathematics as well as providing
opportunities for students to learn about mathematical thinking requires considerable mathematical
In the case of teaching mathematics, the solver has to bring together expertise in both mathematics
and in general pedagogy, and combine these two domains of knowledge together to solve the problem,
whether it be to analyze subject matter, to create a plan for a good lesson, or on a minute-by-minute basis
thinking in students, then they need to engage in mathematical thinking throughout the lesson themselves
(Stacey, 2006).
The philosophy behind her article was to engage primary school teachers on experiencing first
hand on how to solve mathematical problems and construct mathematical knowledge through problem
solving if they are to be effective teachers. The challenge was to ensure pre-service teachers have these
experiences and hence develop an identity as a mathematical thinker to take into their own primary
Grabinger, Dunlap, and Heath (1993, cited in Skaalid, nd), in line with Jonassen et al. (1999),
suggested that realistic environments for active learning reflect the constructivist orientation by allowing
students to determine what they need to learn, enabling them to manage their own learning activities and
to contribute to each other learning, helping them develop metacognitive awareness and creating a non-
There is one particular part of this article caught my attention. On one occasion, there were some
pre-service teachers who were absent from a tutorial class. When these students were away, the class did
not easily generate initial approaches to the problems and struggled to enjoy the lesson and succeed.
Apparently, the development of identity as a mathematical thinker was embedded in a social identity (Lee
& Robbins, 1998); that is identity formation is a social process as well as a cognitive and affective
process.
Social theories of learning (e.g., Wenger, 1998) and constructivist theories of learning focusing on
the self-regulating learner (Jonasson, Peck, and Wilson, 1999; Zimmerman, 1990) and on representation
in problem solving (Goldin, 1992) was developed in the article into a coherent theory of identity as a
mathematical thinker. The responsiveness (Macmillan, 1998; Owens, 1993) predicate how social and
psychological learning are drawn together when discussing the theory of identity as a mathematical
thinker.
The discussion shows that the identity as a mathematical thinker arose from a combination of
learning, experiences, social interactions and technological supports. The real-life problems placed the
pre-service teachers into a challenging but supported ways. Hence, the pre-service teachers established an
identity as self-regulating learners, setting their own goals, organizing and controlling their learning
environment, using a toolbox of strategies for problem solving and self-evaluating (Owens, 2007).
With the discussions and conclusions from this article, the writer recommend that additional
studies and articles should be conducted to support the theories in developing identity as a mathematical
thinker. Thus, she recommended that a study of “Effective Strategies on Developing Identity as a
Mathematical Thinker for Teacher Education Students” should be conducted. As future educators, teacher
education students should be well-equipped with knowledge and identity as a mathematical thinker.
References
Stacey, K. (2006). What Is Mathematical Thinking and Why Is It Important? Review of Educational