Mathematics Teachers In Transition

This book addresses the need of professional development leaders and policymakers for scholarly knowledge about influencing teachers to modify mathematical instruction to bring it more in alignment with the recommendations of the current reform movement initiated by the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics. The book presents: * theoretical perspectives for studying, analyzing, and understanding teacher change; * descriptions of contextual variables to be considered as one studies and attempts to understand teacher change; and * descriptions of professional development programs that resulted in teacher change. One chapter builds a rationale for looking to developmental psychology for guidance in constructing models of reconstructing new forms of mathematical instruction. Another highlights the relevance to mathematics teacher development of research-based knowledge about how children construct mathematical ideas. Other chapters explore the relationships between the various contexts of schooling and instructional change. Included also are chapters that describe and analyze major reform efforts designed to assist teachers in modifying their instructional practices (Cognitively Guided Instruction, Math-Cubed, Project Impact, Mathematics in Context, and the Case-Based Project). Finally, the current state of knowledge about encouraging teachers to modify their instruction is discussed, the implications of major research and implementation findings are suggested, and some of the major questions that need to be addressed are identified, such as what we have learned about teacher change.

This book examines the kinds of transitions that have been studied in mathematics education research. It defines transition as a process of change, and describes learning in an educational context as a transition process. The book focuses on research in the area of mathematics education, and starts out with a literature review, describing the epistemological, cognitive, institutional and sociocultural perspectives on transition. It then looks at the research questions posed in the studies and their link with transition, and examines the theoretical approaches and methods used. It explores whether the research conducted has led to the identification of continuous processes, successive steps, or discontinuities. It answers the question of whether there are difficulties attached to the discontinuities identified, and if so, whether the research proposes means to reduce the gap – to create a transition. The book concludes with directions for future research on transitions in mathematics education.

This book addresses the need of professional development leaders and policymakers for scholarly knowledge about influencing teachers to modify mathematical instruction to bring it more in alignment with the recommendations of the current reform movement initiated by the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics. The book presents: * theoretical perspectives for studying, analyzing, and understanding teacher change; * descriptions of contextual variables to be considered as one studies and attempts to understand teacher change; and * descriptions of professional development programs that resulted in teacher change. One chapter builds a rationale for looking to developmental psychology for guidance in constructing models of reconstructing new forms of mathematical instruction. Another highlights the relevance to mathematics teacher development of research-based knowledge about how children construct mathematical ideas. Other chapters explore the relationships between the various contexts of schooling and instructional change. Included also are chapters that describe and analyze major reform efforts designed to assist teachers in modifying their instructional practices (Cognitively Guided Instruction, Math-Cubed, Project Impact, Mathematics in Context, and the Case-Based Project). Finally, the current state of knowledge about encouraging teachers to modify their instruction is discussed, the implications of major research and implementation findings are suggested, and some of the major questions that need to be addressed are identified, such as what we have learned about teacher change.

This edited book brings together for the first time an international collection of work focused on two important aspects of any young child’s life – learning mathematics and starting primary or elementary school. The chapters take a variety of perspectives, and integrate these two components in sometimes explicit and sometimes more subtle ways. The key issues and themes explored in this book are: the mathematical and other strengths that all participants in the transition to school bring to this period of a child’s life; the opportunities provided by transition to school for young children’s mathematics learning; the importance of partnerships among adults, and among adults and children, for effective school transitions and mathematics learning and teaching; the critical impact of expectations on their mathematics learning as children start school; the importance of providing children with meaningful, challenging and relevant mathematical experiences throughout transition to school; the entitlement of children and educators to experience assessment and instructional pedagogies that match the strengths of the learners and the teachers; the importance for the aspirations of children, families, communities, educators and educational organisations to be recognised as legitimate and key determinants of actions, experiences and successes in both transition to school and mathematics learning; and the belief that young children are powerful mathematics learners who can demonstrate this power as they start school. In each chapter, authors reflect on their work in the area of mathematics and transition to school, place that work within the overall context of research in these fields, predict the trajectory of this work in the future, and consider the implications of the work both theoretically and practically.

This book explores what happens as beginning urban teachers transition through their first few years in the classroom. It captures one teacher's journey through the first three years of teaching science and mathematics in a large urban district in the US. Combining narrative with critical analysis, the authors focus on Ian's agency as a beginning teacher and explore his success in working with diverse students.

Research on the preparation and continued development of mathematics teachers is becoming an increasingly important subset of mathematics education research. Such research explores the attributes, knowledge, skills and beliefs of mathematics teachers as well as methods for assessing and developing these critical aspects of teachers and influences on teaching. Research Trends in Mathematics Teacher Education focuses on three major themes in current mathematics teacher education research: mathematical knowledge for teaching, teacher beliefs and identities, and tools and techniques to support teacher learning. Through careful reports of individual research studies and cross-study syntheses of the state of research in these areas, the book provides insights into teachers’ learning processes and how these processes can be harnessed to develop effective teachers. Chapters investigate bedrock skills needed for working with primary and secondary learners (writing relevant problems, planning lessons, being attentive to student learning) and illustrate how knowledge can be accessed, assessed, and nurtured over the course of a teaching career. Commentaries provide context for current research while identifying areas deserving future study. Included among the topics: Teachers’ curricular knowledge Teachers’ personal and classroom mathematics Teachers’ learning journeys toward reasoning and sense-making Teachers’ transitions in noticing Teachers’ uses of a learning trajectory as a tool for mathematics lesson planning A unique and timely set of perspectives on the professional development of mathematics teachers at all stages of their careers, Research Trends in Mathematics Teacher Education brings clarity and practical advice to researchers as well as practitioners in this increasingly critical arena.