More Like this

1. Building “Small Worlds” in online professional development with evidence-based noticing and wondering

   Matranga, A.; Silverman, J. (October 2021, Proceedings of the 43rd Annual Meeting of PME-NA)

   Olanoff, D.; Johnson, K.; Spitzer, S.M. (Ed.)

   Understanding how to design online professional development environments that support mathematics teachers in developing mathematical and pedagogical knowledge is more important than ever. We argue that productive social and sociomathematical (SM) norms have benefits for teachers learning mathematics in online asynchronous collaboration and that particular patterns in interactions can create context for the emergence of such norms. We employed social network analysis to compare the emerging social networks of two iterations of an online asynchronous professional development course focused on functions to understand whether particular scaffolds can support the emergence of specific patterns of interactions. Results suggest that evidence-based noticing and wondering can impact the “small world” properties of a social network and associated potential for the emergence of social and SM norms. 

   more » « less
2. Translanguaging in Mathematics Learning: Teacher Instructional and Attentional Supports

   Gilmore, M. (January 2020, ProQuest dissertations theses global)

   Students from less-dominant linguistic backgrounds generally have less opportunity to participate in classroom mathematical discourse compared to their English-dominant peers. An issue raised by mathematics education researchers concerned with issues of equity and opportunities for students is that status quo classroom practices and norms supported by teachers may be less familiar to students from non-dominant linguistic groups, or even detrimental to their classroom participation. Additionally, students who position themselves as doers of mathematics usually come from dominant cultural and linguistic groups (Abreu & Cline, 2002; Hand, 2012), potentially disposing students to perceive classroom mathematics learning through the lens of dominant cultural norms and practices. Thus, students who do not come from dominant linguistic backgrounds might perceive the mathematics classroom differently than their English dominant peers. However, less research has been conducted on how mathematics teachers attend to or notice norms around language and introduce new ones that encourage a multitude of linguistic practices, therefore heightening student participation. Heightening student participation can have implications for students being more likely to identify with mathematics. Additionally, examining students’ participation when using a multitude of linguistic practices or translanguaging is helpful for teachers attending to their own practice to support emerging bilingual students and bilingual students when engaging in mathematical sensemaking. 

   more » « less
3. Engaging Preservice Secondary Mathematics Teachers in Authentic Mathematical Modeling: Deriving Ampere’s Law

   https://doi.org/tp://dx.doi.org/10.5951/mathteaceduc.8.1.0076  

   Corum, K; Garofalo, J. (September 2019, Mathematics teacher educator)

   Incorporating modeling activities into classroom instruction requires flexibility with pedagogical content knowledge and the ability to understand and interpret students’ thinking, skills that teachers often develop through experience. One way to support preservice mathematics teachers’ (PSMTs) proficiency with mathematical modeling is by incorporating modeling tasks into mathematics pedagogy courses, allowing PSMTs to engage with mathematical modeling as students and as future teachers. Eight PSMTs participated in a model-eliciting activity (MEA) in which they were asked to develop a model that describes the strength of the magnetic field generated by a solenoid. By engaging in mathematical modeling as students, these PSMTs became aware of their own proficiency with and understanding of mathematical modeling. By engaging inmathematical modeling as future teachers, these PSMTs were able to articulate the importance of incorporating MEAs into their own instruction. 

   more » « less
4. Unpacking the five practices in using an online professional development.

   Reinsburrow, A. (January 2022, Proceedings of the Forty-Fourth Annual Meeting of the North American Chapter of the International Group for the Psychology of Mathematics Education)

   Understanding and utilizing the Five Practices for Orchestrating Productive Mathematics Discussions (Smith et al., 2009; Stein et al., 2008) has grown in importance as teachers continue to be challenged to engage their students in student-centered, discourse-based instruction. We argue that by engaging in rehearsals of the five practices and decomposing practice, the teachers are not only able to advance their understandings of each of the five practices, but also gain knowledge of its value in their classroom practice and its role in the supporting student development. Preliminary results from analysis of our online professional development suggest that participants learned more about utilizing the five practices within their classrooms and are able to share the role they believe it has in their classroom practice. 

   more » « less
5. Implementation of Immersive Classroom Simulation Activities in a Mathematics Methods Course and a Life and Environmental Science Course

   Lee, C.W; Lee, T.D.; Castles, R.; Dickerson, D.; Fales, H.; Wilson, C.M. (December 2018, Journal of interdisciplinary teacher leadership)

   This study investigated the influence of immersive classroom simulation activities on the development of elementary pre-service teachers in two separate mathematics and science education courses that simultaneously focus on pedagogy and content. Participants submitted written personal reflections about their teaching experiences using the immersive classroom simulation activities. These reflections were analyzed for common emergent themes within and across courses. The participants discussed the benefits of the immersive classroom simulation activities in their written personal reflections. They viewed the experience as helpful in developing their skills as a practicing teacher in mathematics and science. Specifically, participants identified three sub-themes including: (a) the immersive classroom simulation activities as being beneficial by providing more authentic real-life teaching experiences than those experienced during peer-group teaching activities; (b) the importance of holding complete and appropriate understandings of content when teaching mathematics and science; and (c) the role of deep content knowledge in the process of developing high quality questions for students. This study has shown immersive classroom simulation activities to be a viable alternative for teacher education programs to engage elementary pre- service teachers in developing skills regarding classroom mathematics and science discourse. 

   more » « less