文摘
The research to be presented in this article shows for a sample of 99 teachers who are in charge of multi-grade or mixed-age classrooms, how they describe their mathematics lessons under these specific structural conditions with respect to various elements of instructional design. The study asks about the frequency of using these elements of instructional design and certain organizational forms of mixed-age learning related to the area of mathematical content and the different phases of the learning process. Furthermore it addresses the teachers’ convictions about mixed-age learning in mathematics education and examine to what extent they can be related to the current research findings. The study inquires into the actual implementation of mixed-age learning in mathematics education and thus contributes to a topical issue in school development and asks from a content-specific perspective about the design of mathematics education in these multi-grade or multi-age classes. The results suggest that mathematics in multi-grade classrooms is mostly taught in a regular single-grade setting all the same. This does not match up to the expectations and intentions of current school development efforts. Moreover, the teachers consider the structural conditions in multi-grade mathematics classrooms to be very demanding.