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Learners' participation in mathematics decreases during their transition from primary to high school. This is despite adolescents' cognitive growth equipping them with enhanced cognitive ability; to learn mathematics. Hence low participation in mathematics does not result from cognitive deficiency. Rather, lack of motivation to learn mathematics may be the factor. According to self-determination theory, motivation results from nurturing three human basic needs: autonomy, connectedness and competence. Since identity is linked to autonomy, identities in mathematics learning impacts motivation to learn the subject. Hence, this paper reports on the action research intervention which took advantage of adolescents' preoccupation with identity formation. In line with continuous cycles of action research, the intervention is the pilot of the ongoing study that seeks to enhance mathematics learning by utilizing non-cognitive factors that resonate with the characteristics of adolescents. The paper reports on how the autonomy to form their identities in mathematics learning, impacted the adolescents' learning and attitude towards mathematics. Qualitative results show that learners lived up to their self-formed identities and this enhanced their motivation to learn mathematics. Further studies that forge positive identities in mathematics classrooms to enhance motivation to learn mathematics are recommended.

This paper provides a comparative study of mathematics textbooks as the primary construct via the Anthropological Theory of Didactics (ATD), which was founded by Yves Chevallard. The aim is to suggest principles that can be incorporated to improve the designing of mathematics textbooks. Definitions, examples, and tasks dealing with the teaching and learning of relations and functions, as sub-construct, from several mathematics textbooks in Norway and one textbook from Ethiopia was collected and analyzed using didactical tools such as types of representations, cognitive demand levels, and response types of mathematical tasks. In the findings, similarity and differences of textbooks, both within homogeneous and heterogeneous cultures, were adequately identified and explained in a way that the results contribute to the improvement of the intended curriculum. In doing so, it shows that ATD provides an excellent tool for textbook design research in the future.

This paper utilizes concept mapping as a tool for conscious and deliberate knowledge building in mathematics and its extension to algorithms. Currently, alleged defects in mathematics education are obvious: instead of conceptual elaboration, everyday praxis relies on routine computations that are likely to lead into alienated concepts with weak connections to prior knowledge. A concept map visualizes the existing conceptual structure, and whenever new information is brought in, it will be placed in the map by clearly explicating its linkage to the previous concepts. In the Finnish mathematics education, such new knowledge is programming content that is integrated into elementary school mathematics in 2014 Finnish National Curriculum. This content is crystallized as the requirements of computational and algorithmic thinking, the utilization of respective data structures, and adequate amount of hands-on practice to internalize good coding conventions. This study examines secondary (N = 19) and higher education students (N = 10) and their conceptual knowledge of mathematics concentrating on the domain of algorithms in particular. The concept maps drawn by the students are evaluated using the SOLO taxonomy. To conclude, a consensus map of algorithms is represented and linked to the elementary mathematics syllabus.

The purpose of this study is to identify pre-service primary mathematics teachers' views regarding on Web-based Intelligent Tutoring Systems (WBITS) in relation to its usability and influence on teaching. A survey method was used. The study was conducted with 43 students attending the mathematics teaching program under the department of elementary education. The data were collected through a paper-based survey composed of three parts. In the first part of the survey, there are 9 items about demographic information demographic profile of the respondents such as name, gender, age, study styles, learning styles, and motivation styles. In the second part, there is a scale about "Innovation Awareness Scale" and in the third part there is a scale about views concerning the usability and the influence of WBITS on learning. The data obtained from the study were analyzed using SPSS-21 based on descriptive statistics such as frequency, percentage distribution, and arithmetic mean in addition to MANOVA, which is a parametric test, and "Pearson product-moment correlation coefficient". Analysis indicated that the participants were "neither negative or positive" regarding both WBITS and innovation. It was seen that there was no significant relationship between participant awareness regarding innovation and their views regarding WBITS. Another important finding is that study styles, learning styles, and motivation styles are not influential variables over their views about WBITS' usability and its effect on learning attitudes towards WBITS.