Teaching Styles in the Teaching of Mathematics Thematically

TEACHING STYLES IN THEMATIC MATHEMATICS 
Generally speaking, the literature reveals that teachers enact three teaching styles when 
dealing with a thematic unit (Blum, 1991; Galbraith, Blum, & Huntley, 1998; Handal, 
2000; White & Hastings, 2000). In the first style, the teacher intends to reach the 
mathematical content objectives of a particular thematic unit or lesson through an entirely 
content based lesson and consequently no applications of mathematics are presented in 
class. In this form, rote learning and drill are the predominant approach to learning. The 
second teaching style is characterised by applications of mathematics but in a restricted 
dimension. Typically, the teacher begins the lesson with the introduction of a 
mathematical concept and later presents applications of mathematics as a way to practice 
the already taught mathematical concept. Applications of mathematics in this second 
style are not related to each other and are used not to elicit mathematical ideas from a real 
life situation but as a way to justify the applicational goals of a thematic unit. This style 
represents the most basic form of teaching mathematics thematically since in a theme all 
applications are to be related to each other and must revolve around a central idea 
(Freeman & Sokoloff, 1996). In the third teaching style, the teacher is engaged with 
mathematical modelling. This is thought to be the most difficult and complex style of 
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teaching thematically (Blum, 1991; Galbraith et al., 1998; Handal, 2000; White & 
Hastings, 2000). A teacher operating in this style typically begins from a real-life 
situation involving experiential and hands-on activities that eventually lead to the 
formalization of the mathematical concept involved. Presented as discrete "styles", no 
evidence suggests how prevalent each style is or if one is more effective. 
The study reported here is part of a larger investigation concerned with the beliefs and 
practices of secondary mathematics teachers who were required to teach mathematics 
thematically. The findings reported in this paper deal only with the research component 
concerned with the teaching styles utilised by these teachers. More specifically, the 
study intended to identify which factors determine teachers’ choice of instructional styles 
in the teaching of mathematics thematically and whether the styles chosen were in 
accordance with those required by curriculum documents.