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The Widening Gap - A Swedish Perspective

På svenska

Author

  • Gerd Brandell
  • Kirsti Hemmi
  • Hans Thunberg

Summary, in English

Transition problems from secondary to tertiary level in mathematics have been a recurrent issue in Sweden. This paper summarises the development during the last decades. Results from two recent research studies that illuminate the transition problem are presented. The first one, based on empirical data from a major Swedish technical university, characterises the widening gap, in content and in approach, between secondary school and first year university courses. The second study deals with students’ encounters with mathematical proof and is based on a large investigation at another main Swedish university. We discuss the influence on the current transition problems of school reforms and of the great expansion of higher education in Sweden during the last 10 – 15 years in view of the results from the research studies.

Publishing year

2008

Language

English

Pages

38-56

Publication/Series

Mathematics Education Research Journal

Volume

20

Issue

2

Document type

Journal article

Publisher

MERGA

Topic

  • Mathematics

Keywords

  • transition
  • Mathematics
  • education
  • tertiary
  • secondary

Status

Published

ISBN/ISSN/Other

  • ISSN: 1033-2170