Professional Development Of Mathematics Teachers Research Articles

Prime Online: Exploring Teacher Professional Development for Creating Inclusive Elementary Mathematics Classrooms

Enhancing all students’ academic performance continues to be a national priority, and although achievement gains have been made overtime, shortfalls in mathematics learning for students with disabilities (SWD) remain. Research reveals that a substantial portion of the variability in students’ mathematics achievement gains is due to the teacher. To address the need for teacher professional development (PD) in mathematics for SWD and other struggling mathematics learners, we designed and studied Prime Online—a yearlong, online, PD program with support from an Institute of Education Sciences (IES) Goal 2 Development and Innovation research grant. In this article, the development process and an exploratory study are discussed. Study findings suggest that Prime Online positively influenced general and special education teachers’ reported beliefs and practices, and their learning of mathematics content for teaching, and generated high teacher satisfaction ratings. No difference in the performance of SWD on a state accountability measure of mathematics was found. Implications for further research are discussed.

Models for collaborative professional development for teachers in mathematics

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to describe a review of the most frequently cited English articles of five models of collaborative professional development for mathematics teachers, aiming to describe the character of the development addressed and its quality issues.Design/methodology/approachThe most frequently cited articles were chosen for their impact on the scientific discourse; they identify what aspects of the models are most focused and of interest. The research questions were: how is professional development described in the articles?, and what improvements are the models trying to increase or what problem are the models trying to solve? The review of these articles was also analyzed in relation to four quality indicators for praxis improvement (Holmqvist Olander, 2015): (A) ecological validation for predictive power, (B) generalization in theory, (C) cross-setting interventions, and (D) continuing professional development.FindingsThe result shows differences in focus. Educational action research focuses on solving the participants’ problem in the school environment while learning study tests different instructional designs to find the most powerful relationship between instruction and student learning. Lesson study and teacher research groups are collaborative professional development models integrated into the teachers’ ordinary work to develop everyday teaching and learning, and educational design research is mainly designed by researchers studying areas of interests, which can be shared by teachers.Research limitations/implicationsThe articles used for the analysis are a selection, and not a total sample of everything published about the models. This can be both a limitation and strength. A very small sample of typical studies is used for the analysis, even though the models are used in several other situations and contexts as well, which can be seen as a limitation. However, as the selection of articles have the strongest impact on the research of each model, as they are the most cited articles and affect the way they are used. The contexts differ and this can be seen as a limitation as the models might be more efficient in some cultural settings than other.Practical implicationsBased on the articles’ findings, these five models can all be recommended to develop students’ mathematical knowledge as well as teachers’ pedagogical content knowledge. The results of this review can be used to guide what model to use depending on the need for professional development.Social implicationsOrganisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (2015) and Hattie (2013) state that effective professional development is positioned as close to practice as possible, and that research questions should be raised and outcomes tested in teachers’ workplaces as a form of collaborative professional development. There is a contradiction between such claims and how we traditionally value research. Collaboration with teachers in research projects can, as well as aiming to have an impact on practice, sometimes be considered to be less scientific than a more objective standpoint that follows traditional indicators of scientific quality. This review shows how professional development can inform practice-based research and contribute with new knowledge of how to develop teaching and learning in the classroom.Originality/valueThe overview is different from an ordinary research review, as the focus is on the most cited articles. This is made to capture the main shape of how the models are presented in an international research context as the articles have an impact of how the models are understood and shared between contexts in different countries.

Does Training in Alternative Assessment Matter? The Case of Prospective and Practicing Mathematics Teachers’ Attitudes Toward Alternative Assessment and Their Beliefs About the Nature of Mathematics

This study explored the training of prospective and practicing mathematics teachers in alternative assessment and its impact on their attitudes toward alternative assessment methods and their beliefs about the nature of mathematics. Data were collected from 51 prospective teachers and 50 practicing teachers who took a course on alternative assessment in mathematics. Findings indicated a significant change in the correlation between the positivist and constructivist dimensions of their beliefs about the nature of mathematics following the course. No significant differences were found between the prospective and practicing teachers’ beliefs either before or after the course nor in their attitudes toward alternative assessment after the course. Before the course, however, the two groups differed significantly in their attitudes toward alternative assessment. Findings also revealed significant changes in attitudes toward alternative assessment and beliefs about the nature of mathematics following participation in the course. These changes in attitudes and beliefs were accompanied by a shift in the nature of the assessment tasks written by the participants. Participants who demonstrated more positive attitudes and constructivist beliefs tended to write more conceptual problems and less procedural exercises. Implications for mathematics teacher training and professional development in alternative assessment are discussed.

Using Grounded Theory to Extend Existing PCK Framework at the Secondary Level

This paper addresses two critical issues in mathematics education, the need: (a) to understand the nature of educator’s subject matter knowledge and pedagogical content knowledge; and (b) to find ways to measure them. It stems from a mixed-methods study designed to inspect the secondary mathematics teachers’ pedagogical content knowledge (PCK) related to the area of a trapezoid, a common topic in intermediate/secondary school classes. Based on the provided exemplars of student work, in-service teachers were invited to propose possible ways for addressing perceived difficulties of students and provide extensions. Using a Grounded Theory approach, we identified themes in our data and incorporated them with existing conceptualizations of knowledge for teaching secondary level mathematics, and developed rubrics that allow discriminating different levels of teachers’ PCK. In this paper, we describe the process of developing the rubrics, and propose ways to: (a) extend the existing frameworks for PCK in/for teaching mathematics at the secondary level; and (b) measure multiple facets of PCK in order to design technology-based professional development for mathematics teachers.

수학교사의 전문성 개발영역 관련 연구 동향 분석

수학교사의 전문성 개발영역 관련 연구 동향 분석

Improving procedural and conceptual mathematics outcomes: evidence from a randomised controlled trial in Kenya

ABSTRACTTo improve learning outcomes, an intervention in Kenya called the Primary Math and Reading (PRIMR) Initiative provided pupil learning materials, teachers’ guides and modest teacher professional development in mathematics. This paper presents the causal impact of PRIMR’s mathematics intervention on pupil achievement indices for procedural and conceptual numeracy, using a differences-in-differences analytic strategy. The mathematics intervention produced modest, statistically significant results: generally similar results for males and females, a larger impact in grade 2 than grade 1, a larger impact in nongovernment schools than public schools, and smaller outcomes in mathematics than for English or Kiswahili. These findings have relevant policy implications in Kenya given an impending national mathematics programme.

ERME Topic Conference: Mathematics Teaching, Resources and Teacher Professional Development

ERME Topic Conference: Mathematics Teaching, Resources and Teacher Professional Development

The development, validation and standardisation of a questionnaire for ICT professional development of mathematics teachers

This article reports on the development of a custom-made questionnaire. The questionnaire was developed with the aim to compile guidelines for the professional development (PD) of mathematics teachers for the pedagogical use of information and communication technology (ICT) integration in teaching and learning. During the standardisation and validation of the questionnaire it was distributed to 179 schools and 300 teachers in eight educational management districts in the Western Cape, South Africa. The extracted factors had a reliability level higher than 0.8, which indicates the items in the questionnaire are significant to address the research problem and the questionnaire is valid for ICT PD.

International Approaches to Professional Development for Mathematics Teachers

This book provides a rich description of the experiences and innovative approaches established in various countries to support the professional development of practising mathematics teachers. Many of these approaches are based on classroom context and considered the practitioners’ viewpoints. The analyses in various chapters help elucidate how the approaches articulate with practice, the contributions of teachers and teacher educators/researchers, and the fundamental theoretical framework directing the researchers. The chapters cover various aspects, including the main trends and issues in the education of practising mathematics teachers, the changes in their role during their careers, the learning that occur between teachers and teacher educators/researchers, and the hidden power relations in the collaboration between the two groups. There are indications that the formal and informal experiences of mathematics teachers, all through their careers, can contribute to their professional development and that the viewpoints of teachers and their practical knowledge must be genuinely considered in order to construct critical professional development experiences. In essence, the book offers new ways of creating continuous professional development that would help bridge the gap between research and practice.

Engaging High School Students in an Engineering Thermodynamics Project

Efforts for recruiting and retaining students in engineering programs are evident in many postsecondary institutions around the world. These efforts include outreach programs at both elementary and secondary school level, as well as projects that develop capacities beyond technical content—often taught as declarative and procedural knowledge. The mandate of the Galileo Education Network Association includes the design of rich learning environments engaging K – 12 students in authentic tasks: tasks that resemble the real work of professionals such as engineers. We describe the experience of enacting a seven-session engineering project in thermodynamics with Grade Ten students. Special attention is paid to formative assessment as an essential support for students' learning along the project. The initial project resulted from the collaboration—as a means for teacher professional development—between this network association and the mathematics and science teachers in a western Canadian high school. We propose that programs for teacher professional development in mathematics and science should include a focus on tasks that resemble the work of engineering in order to design authentic, engaging learning tasks, and assessing strategies that support and enhance student learning.

Sustaining and scaling up the impact of professional development programmes

This paper deals with a crucial topic: which factors influence the sustainability and scale-up of a professional development programme’s impact? Theoretical models and empirical findings from impact research (e.g. Zehetmeier and Krainer, ZDM Int J Math 43(6/7):875–887, 2011) and innovation research (e.g. Cobb and Smith, International handbook of mathematics teacher education, vol 3, pp 231–254, Sense Publishers, Rotterdam, 2008; Rogers, Diffusion of innovations, Free Press, New York, 2003) are combined in order to be used as a theoretical framework for a qualitative impact analysis of a mathematics teacher professional development programme in Austria. The paper provides data from document analyses and interview series to describe as well as explain this programme’s various impacts on different levels within a case study setting. In particular, this study focuses on factors (e.g. networks, shared vision or mutual accountability) which are influencing the scale-up and sustainability of a professional development programme’s impact (e.g. on teachers’ knowledge, beliefs or practice). Finally, implications for upcoming professional development programmes are discussed.

New Reforms to Improve Professional Development of Mathematics Teachers in Morocco

This paper has emerged from a research undertaken in the framework of the Project Mathematics Teacher Professional Development Programs (Math-TPDP) in selected Developed and Developing Countries, initiated by the College of Education, University of South Africa (UNISA). It deals first with a brief survey on the introduced actions to improve the quality of Education in Morocco with the main objective to strengthen teachers' professional skills. The paper results reveal that the Moroccan Educational System has not yet placed the Mathematics Continuous Professional Development (MCPD) in a strategic position to respond to the real needs of teachers. It is recommended that mathematics teachers be retrained to get a better understanding of recent reforms for effective integration into their profession. It is also recommended that established reform commissions in the country come out with policy strategies to implement MCPD programmes.

Reform in Mathematics Teacher Professional Development in Poland

This paper consists of two separate but connected research reports. The first is a recent history and current status of teacher professional development in mathematics education in Poland. The second is a summary of the findings of a Pilot Study in which questionnaires were given to Mathematics Teachers and School Directors in selected Polish Schools during 2013. This paper concludes with suggested ways for improving the quality of professional development courses based on the detailed findings of both research reports. The recommendations include (1) better work conditions and salaries of teachers to encourages them to pursue in-service courses, (2) accreditation of private educational companies to hold in-service courses, (3) modernizing the curriculum content and teaching methods, based on best practice globally and (4) introducing modern technology to re-shape teaching and learning in the classroom.

Advances in the Provision of Mathematics Teacher Professional Development in Botswana

Advances in the Provision of Mathematics Teacher Professional Development in Botswana

Students’ Problem Solving Strategies in Problem Solving-mathematics Classroom

Teaching approaches in mathematics classrooms have been changed to a more insight-based problem oriented process during the last decade (van Oers, 2002). In addition, problem solving requires a variety of skills including interpreting information, planning and methodical working, checking results and trying alternative strategies (Muir, Beswick, & Williamson, 2008). The purpose of this research was to investigate students’ problem solving strategies (Posamentier & Krulik, 1998) in a problem solving- mathematics classroom, using an open approach as a teaching approach and composed of four phases: 1) posing open-ended problems, 2) students’ self learning, 3) whole class discussion, and 4) comparison, and summarization through connecting students’ mathematical ideas that emerged in the classroom (Inprasitha, 2010). Case study was employed in this study. Video and audio tape recording, and field note taking were used as methods for collecting data of a targeted group including six of grade 1 students in 2010 academic year of a school participating the Project for Professional Development of Mathematics Teachers through Lesson Study and Open Approach. Data were analyzed by using descriptive statistic and analytic description. The results revealed that the students used the problem solving strategies in all phases and mostly in the 2nd phase of the problem solving- mathematics classroom. Moreover, when the students solved the problems, they cooperated to create their problem solving strategies. Thus it could be considered that the problem solving-mathematics classroom, which starting with open-ended problems and having sessions for students to solve the problems by themselves, encourages students to create their own problems and problem solving strategies.

Mathematics teacher professional development in and through internet use: reflections on an ethnographic study

This paper is a reflection on a model for mathematics teacher professional development with respect to technology. The model was informed by three interrelated concepts: (1) a theory of teacher professional development from analysis of the field, (2) the zone theory of teacher professional learning, and (3) ethnography as a method. The model was applied in a study that focused on the uses of the Internet for primary mathematics teacher professional development, particularly to exploit the potential of the Internet for professional learning and to use it in professional work. This is illustrated through selected critical events over an eight-month ethnographic intervention in a primary mathematics classroom in Australia. Though the model is theoretically grounded, it opens up questions about the power, potential, and challenges as well as its feasibility, with respect to not only the teacher but also the ethnographer.

Key Universal Activities of Mathematical Learning in Problem Solving Mathematics Classroom

To enhance students’ problem solving potential, an important skill for 21st century, teachers should concern what kinds of authentic-mathematics experiences that students can get through problem solving (Cai, Mamona-Downs, & Weber, 2005). In addition, mathematics classroom approach has changed radically from a drill-and-practice approach to more insight-based problem oriented approach (Van Oers, 2002). According to a problem solving mathematics classroom, in which an open approach is used as a teaching approach, students are required to adapt what they have learned to solve problem situations (Inprasitha, 2010). These problem situations are designed based on students’ experiences. Regarding these points, a purpose of this study was to investigate key universal activities, which are based on Bishop (1988) who presented the key universal activities as foundations for students’ mathematical learning. Case study was employed in this study. Video and audio tape recording, and field note taking were used as methods for collecting data of a targeted group including six of grade 1 students in 2010 academic year of a school participating the Project for Professional Development of Mathematics Teachers through Lesson Study and Open Approach. Data were analyzed by using descriptive statistic and analytic description. The results showed that there were various key universal activities in each problem situation occurring in problem solving mathematics classroom. These key universal activities have been enhancing the students to solve the problems efficiently.

Professional Development of Mathematics Teachers with Lesson Study and Open Approach: The Process for Changing Teachers Values about Teaching Mathematics

The aim of this study was to analyze the process for changing values about teaching mathematics for teachers in a pilot school implementing Lesson Study and Open Approach. The study was structured through a questionnaire survey of 83 teachers in 4 pilot schools. Case studies were then conducted with 3 of the teachers and involved participatory observations and video recording in 3 phases of Lesson Study, interviews and document analysis. Theoretically, the conceptualization of professional development with Lesson Study and Open Approach, values change (Rescher, 1969 cited in Seah, 2004) and change process (Fullan, 1985; Joyce & Showers, 1980) helps to explain the process for changing values about teaching mathematics. The study shows that teachers in a pilot school implementing Lesson Study and Open Approach have developed a new view and values about teaching mathematics (e.g. values in designing lesson plans, values in teaching practice, values in classroom assessment). The components were essential for changing teachers values about teaching mathematics and consisted of 1) Teachers participating and learning about the underlying theoretical principles of Lesson Study and Open Approach 2) Practicing weekly cycles of Lesson Study into school culture 3) Seeing Lesson Study and Open Approach demonstrated from expert and Japanese teachers 4) Ongoing coaching or support from the project and 5) Obtaining feedback from outsiders such as educators, parents, school board members etc.

Enhancing mathematics communication using critical aspects and dimensions of variation

This article deals with two prominent topics in the field of mathematics education: the communication in mathematics and its teaching and learning and the continuous professional development of mathematics teachers. In this article, a framework is proposed for analysing the effectiveness of communication in mathematics classrooms. The presentation is based on data collected, during a 3-year period, while different objects of learning is presented in nine classes, and it includes 22 teachers and 884 students. Among other things, the data consist of the students’ tests, the teachers’ lessons plan and reports of the lessons’ instructions. In the analysis, concepts relating to variation theory have been used as analytical tools. The results show that effective communication occurs in the classroom if it has the real critical aspects in student learning as its starting point. Also, the results show that teachers develop new strategies to present the contents by having the focus to open up dimensions of variation.

The Professional Development Needs of Mathematics Teachers in Saudi Arabia

This study aimed at determining the professional development needs of mathematics teachers in Saudi Arabia. The sample of the study contained 643 teachers and 39 supervisors of four districts of education across Saudi Arabia. The survey addressed two domains of professional development: content knowledge in mathematics, and pedagogical content knowledge. The study found that, in the domain of content knowledge for professional development, the most frequently occurring topics were as follows: Topological concepts and their applications, spherical geometry and its applications; mathematical problems solving; mathematical logic, reasoning, and proof; and, limits and continuity and their applications. In the domain of pedagogical content knowledge, participants defined areas of deficit across thirteen topics. Included in these were: Mathematical teaching for students with special needs; mathematical teaching for gifted students; lab use in teaching mathematics, etc. Two-way ANOVA indicated that there were significant differences in means of mathematics teachers’ needs for professional development in favor of supervisors vs. mathematics teachers in the pedagogical content knowledge domain alone. While there were no significant differences in the means of the need for professional development for mathematics teachers related to their teaching grade level or to the interaction between job and grade level in both domains.