Exploring complex issues: Insights from classrooms, courses and conversations

Abstract

As researchers we are continually developing our knowledge and understanding ofmathematics education and, indeed, of the subject itself. In this issue we explore some ofthe current concerns we face as a community of mathematics educators. The challenges areundoubtedly complex. Here I would like to share some insights from classrooms, coursesand conversations.Over the years mathematics curriculum materials have drawn considerable attention andraised some interesting issues particularly in the way teachers have adapted them forclassroom use. Unlike many studies Jeffrey Choppin’s work benefits from being longitu-dinal. In Learned adaptations: Teachers’ understanding and use of curriculum resources,he discusses three teachers’ (grades 6–8) evolving implementation of curriculum materialshaving observed their use on at least three occasions. While there were some similarities intheir practice he explores marked differences in how they revised their tasks and how theseadaptations related to student sense making. Significantly he provides an example how oneof the teachers adopted curriculum resources in ways that built on and developed thedesigners’ original intentions.Managing whole group discussions is notoriously difficult and little understood. In theirarticle—Extending students’ mathematical thinking during whole group discussions—Nesrin Cengiz, Kate Kline and Theresa Grant closely examine eight episodes taken fromsix elementary classrooms. They explain that the teachers, having recognised opportunitiesto build new connections or address misconceptions, engaged in ‘a skilful dance’ in orderto extend student thinking. While the authors acknowledge the need for further work on thetopic they succeed in providing considerable insight into, ‘…much needed detail on whatextending students’ mathematical thinking looks like and which instructional actions areinstrumental in achieving the potential for extending episodes.’Teachers’ resources—particularly in terms of time and energy—are often limited, andtherefore, it is important that the professional development they are offered is of thehighest quality. In their article Kelli Nipper and her colleagues explore the relationshipbetween teachers’ expectations and actual experiences of a 1-week professional