Professor and his beloved equation

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Meski saya sudah cukup lama bergulat dengan matematika, tetap saja merasa "janggal" dengan judul film yang memuat kata khas matematika, EQUATION. Saya tidak menyesal bersusah payah mencari link untuk mengunduh film ini, karena memang bagus untuk ditonton. Berikut ini saya ceritakan informasi singkatnya beserta kesan saya, supaya kalian ikutan nonton. Yeah!

Film ini berkisah tentang apa?

Film Jepang yang diadaptasi dari novel ini berkisah tentang seorang professor matematika yang hidup dengan ingatan jangka pendek 80 menit. Diceritakan dari sudut pandang Root, anak pengurus rumah tangga sang professor, film berdurasi hampir 2 jam ini menggambarkan kilas balik interaksi Root dengan sang professor yang kemudian menginspirasinya menjadi guru matematika. Root menceritakan kisahnya sebagai perkenalan awal di kelas matematika.

Kok ada orang Jepang namanya Root sih?

Root sebenarnya bukan nama asli sang narator, tapi nama tersebut diberikan oleh sang professor yang menganggap kepala anak pengurus rumah tangganya datar seperti simbol dari akar suatu bilangan (a square root). Sang profesor setiap hari akan menanyakan hal yang sama kepada ibu Root, yakni nomor sepatu dan nomor telepon. Setiap kali pula sang profesor menghubungkan angka tersebut dengan konsep matematika. Profesor digambarkan sebagai orang yang lebih nyaman memulai percakapan dengan topik matematika (terutama bilangan). Bisa dicontoh lho untuk menghindari kecanggungan ketika pertama kali kenal orang.

Dengan memuat kata EQUATION di judulnya, adakah konten matematika di film ini?

Social norms in mathematical classroom

Two weeks ago, I had a very nice discussion with Dolly van Eerde in Design Research course. One of topics we talk about is social norms in mathematical classroom. Social norms refer to expected ways of acting during the interaction between teacher and students. The didactical contract is another term that common to be used to express it.

What makes it so important to be discussed?
It is important to be discussed because these norms will influence the process of mathematical learning.  Social norms can be considered as an unwritten contract about how every people in a learning environment should act. It determines the role of teacher and students in the classroom. Gravemeijer and Cobb stated that these norms will significantly differ between traditional math classroom and the reform classroom.
In the traditional mathematical classroom -- the situation that we often encounter in Indonesia -- the roles of teacher are giving instruction and evaluation. If the teacher poses questions, most of them are closed question. The students in this typical environment are expected to try hard in understanding the teacher's explanation. They are required to act according to the teaches's expectation.
However, the roles of teacher in the reform math classroom are quite different. The teacher's roles are introducing interesting activities, posing open question and follow up question, asking explanation and justification, promoting interaction between students, and making sure to invite all students to participate.

How to change the norms in the classroom?