Change in mathematics teaching practices through an international teacher exchange program

Abstract

Changing mathematics teaching practices among elementary and secondary teachers was studied across two groups of teachers, one from Guatemala and the other from the United States. Teachers participated in the International Teacher to Teacher Exchange program that offers teachers in the two countries an opportunity to explore each other's cultures and mathematics teaching methods, for the purpose of changing instructional practices. Researchers examined individual action research plans, implementation, reporting strategies, and perceived changes of teachers. Concerns Based Adoption Model instrumentation was used to determine stages of concerns and levels of use of the Action Research innovation. Results of document analysis, interviews, and observations indicated that five of six teachers changed practices with variance across the group, with only four changing practices in mathematics. All teachers reported they benefited from the exchange and noted that the changes they made were a direct result of the experiences gleaned from the exchange.