Specialised knowledge for teaching geometry in a primary education class: analysis from the knowledge mobilized by a teacher and the knowledge evoked in the researcher

Abstract

Deepening the specialised knowledge of mathematics teachers is necessary for teaching, and it is one of our concerns as researchers; accordingly, in this study we analyze the knowledge that a teacher mobilizes when giving a first lesson on geometry to a class of fifth year of primary education at a Spanish school. We provide this analysis with a complementary perspective that leads us to broaden our focus of attention to other aspects of classroom management, thus identifying the specialised knowledge evoked in the researcher by the opportunities observed in the classroom. We take opportunities to mean classroom situations that occur as a result of the teacher’s management for which the researcher considers that an alternative management of such situations would be supported by relevant specialised knowledge for the teaching of the given content. Considering the possible alternative management of specific classroom situations makes this specialised knowledge emerge, which, together with that mobilized by the teacher, generates specialised knowledge useful for guiding the content of the training of primary education teachers.