Date and Place of birth: Oct. 6th, 1991 Zhejiang, China

Phone number : +33 0771938173 - Email : Luxizi Zhang

Biography

Dr. Luxizi Zhang, majoring in Mathematics Education, is a researcher who studies mathematics teachers’ work from the perspective of variation. Her recent focus is on the art of teaching mathematics through variation, which contributes to further studying teachers’ professional development. Taking profit of variation, teachers’ task design, teachers’ collective work, and teacher education can be further studied. Her research findings can be brought to support teachers’ classroom practice.

• Sep. 2014 - Sep. 2017 : Master study in East China Normal University (Shanghai, China), major in Mathematics Education

• Oct. 2015 - Jun. 2017: Being selected as a master’s student of PRoSFER program (Programme of Sino-French Education for Research) 

• Sep. 2010 - Jun. 2014 : Bachelor study in Zhejianggongshang University (Hangzhou, China), Major in Mathematics and Applied Mathematics (Bachelor of Science).

From potential to practical variations in the teaching of functions: contrasting Chinese and French cases in two upper secondary schools

Thesis defended on September 15, 2022, in front of the jury composed of: Pr. Jiansheng Bao (Shanghai), Pr. Ghislaine Gueudet (Paris), Pr. Christian Mercat (Lyon), Pr. Sophie Soury-Lavergne (Lyon), Pr. Luc Trouche (Lyon), Pr. Jianpan Wang (Shanghai), and Pr. Binyan Xu (Shanghai), 

Teaching mathematics through variation appears an important topic as soon as we study task design, many teachers teaching consciously or unconsciously in varying these tasks. This thesis is situated in between China and France, crossing two traditions and cultural contexts, aiming to think fruitful interactions between them and improve the effectiveness of mathematics teaching by understanding the role and evolution of teaching through variation. 

Variation appears in two traditions of research in mathematics education, BIANSHI jiaoxue (Gu et al., 2004) in China and theory of didactical situations (Brousseau, 2002) in France. We propose a preliminary model of “teaching mathematics through variation” by combining these two theoretical approaches with the Documentational Approach to Didactics (Trouche, Gueudet & Pepin, 2020). Our preliminary model distinguishes potential variation, actual variation and practical variation. 

The thesis aims at improving this model from a case study in France and in China, focusing on the topic of function (grade 10). In this perspective, an analytical framework is built, and the concept of variation path is proposed. The thesis opens new perspectives for the enrichment of teachers' resource systems, for teacher professional development, and for the modeling of teachers' work.

Brousseau, G. (2002). Theory of Didactical Situations in Mathematics. Netherlands: Springer.

Gu, L., Huang, R., & Marton, F. (2004). Teaching with variation: A Chinese way of promoting effective mathematics learning. In L. Fan, N. Y. Wong, J. Cai, & S. Li (Eds.), How Chinese learn mathematics: Perspectives from insiders (pp. 309-347). Singapore: World Scientific

Trouche, L., Gueudet, G., & Pepin, B. (2020). The documentational approach to didactics. In S. Lerman (Eds.) Encyclopedia of Mathematics Education (2nd edition, pp. 307-313). Cham, Switzerland: Springer. doi:10.1007/978-3-319-77487-9_100011-1  

Professional experience 

Organization of academic activities

Teaching experience

Publications / communications

Publications

• Zhang, L. (2020). Potential, actual and practical variations for teaching functions: cases study in China and France. Teaching Mathematics and Computer Science. 18(3),157-166. DOI: 10.5485/TMCS.2020.0489
• Zhang, L. (2018). A comparative study on the content and use of mathematics teaching resources between China and France: from the exercise perspective (poster), In V. Gitirana, T. Miyakawa, M. Rafalska, S. Soury-Lavergne, & L. Trouche (Eds.), Proceedings of the Re(s)sources 2018 International Conference (pp. 132-134). ENS de Lyon, retreived at https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-01764563v3/document

International communications

Local communications

• Zhang, L. (2021, October 13). From potential variations to practical variations in the teaching of functions through a series of tasks: contrasting Chinese and French cases [Conference presentation]. Variations en histoire et didactique des mathématiques, Journée d’étude LDAR–SPHere, Paris, France.

• Zhang, L. (2021, January, 21-22). From potential to practical variations in the teaching of function: contrasting Chinese and French cases [Conference presentation]. Séminaire National de Didactique des Mathématiques, via Zoom.

• Zhang, L. (2019, January 7). Variations in the teaching of functions [Conference presentation]. Penser des variations et des séries de problèmes pour l’enseignement des mathématiques : Réflexions historiques, didactiques et méthodologiques, ENS de Lyon, France.

• Zhang, L. (2018, December 10-16). Variations in the teaching of functions [Conference presentation]. Crossing views on mathematics teachers’ resources in China and France - A JoRISS Seminar for PhD students in education, ENS de Lyon, France.

• Igliori, S., & Zhang, L. (2018, April 10). Session 7 - Ressources des enseignants : analyse d’exercices dans deux contextes différents [oral presentation]. Ressources 2017-2018, ENS de Lyon, France.

• Zhang, L. (2017, December 13). Variation problems and their roles in teaching the notion of function: contrasting Chinese and French mathematics textbooks of higher secondary schools [oral presentation]. MaTRiTT project final seminar, IFÉ, ENS de Lyon, France.

• Zhang, L., Ji, W., & He, R. (2015, May 28-30). Mathematics teaching based on the idea of integration of STEM [Conference presentation]. Mathematics education Graduate Forum, Shanghai, China.

Mathematics education courses & activities

Cross-Disciplinary courses & activities