Dr Jasmina Milinković is an Associate Professor in the field of Mathematics Teaching Methodology at the Teacher Education Faculty, at the University of Belgrade in Serbia. Her main fields of interest are Mathematics Curriculum, Problem Posing, Development of Mathematical Concepts, Representations, Mathematical Games, and Integrated Learning. She is an active member of the international research community, the Serbian Mathematical Society (DMS), the British Society for Research in Learning Mathematics (BSRLM), and the European Society for Research in Mathematics Education (ERME). She had authored and co-authored numerous scientific papers, as well as series of mathematics textbooks for primary school students in Serbia published by Kreativni center and the Mathematics in Context textbook series for middle school students published by Encyclopedia Brittanica. She has participated in national and international scientific projects, such as Mathematics in Context, National Center for Research in Mathematical Sciences Education, Madison, USA, and Concepts and strategies for ensuring the quality of basic education, Ministry of Education in Serbia. She was a member of the Board for educational standards for Mathematics in Serbia and a member of the Board for Mathematics curricula development for primary grades in the Republic of Serbia.
Abstract: Representation in mathematics teaching – How to make a choice?
Representations are one of the key terms in modern didactics of mathematics at all levels of education. We will talk about representations concerning the formation of mathematical concepts. We will also talk about representations in the process of designing mathematical problems or making a choice of tasks for students. Finally, we will discuss the role of representations in the process of solving problems. In the talk, we will touch upon all these aspects of using representations with the intention to justify why they are considered crucial in learning mathematics. In particular, we will consider the role of teachers in the use of representations in teaching mathematics.