ERIC Number: ED341682
Record Type: Non-Journal
Publication Date: 1991-Nov
Pages: 37
Abstractor: N/A
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: N/A
EISSN: N/A
Changing Visions and Changing Practices: Patchworks in Learning To Teach Mathematics for Understanding. Research Report 91-2.
Wilson, Suzanne M.; Ball, Deborah Loewenberg
Reform proposals for mathematics teaching and learning have clear implications for significant change in curriculum and in traditional teacher roles. One contribution to the reform effort was the SummerMath for Teachers program, an inservice program committed to helping teachers develop constructivist orientations to teaching and learning by working with them in ways congruent with those constructivist orientations. The program began with a two-week residential summer institute, followed by a year of intensive individual follow-up with teachers in their own classrooms. This study investigated the learning of two teachers who participated in the program from 1987 to 1989. The study focused on: (1) what each teacher brought to the program; (2) each teacher's experience of the program itself; and (3) changes in each teacher's visions and practices over two years. The teachers' experiences illustrate the ways in which individuals create their own "patchworks" of practice as they merge prior knowledge and experience with the new ideas presented to them as learners and teachers of mathematics. While the two teachers responded quite differently to the Institute experience and the intensity of the challenges it posed, both found the support and respect they needed to begin changing their practices. The contrast between these two cases points up a paradox inherent in teaching teachers: how to effect significant and specific changes in mathematics teaching while acknowledging that teachers themselves need to be active constructors of their knowledge and practice. (Author/LL)
Descriptors: Case Studies, Elementary Education, Elementary School Mathematics, Elementary School Teachers, Faculty Development, Grade 3, Grade 4, Higher Education, Inservice Teacher Education, Instructional Improvement, Knowledge Level, Learning Experience, Learning Processes, Summer Programs, Teacher Improvement, Teacher Role
The National Center for Research on Teacher Education, 116 Erickson Hall, Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI 48824 ($7.10).
Publication Type: Reports - Research
Education Level: N/A
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: Office of Educational Research and Improvement (ED), Washington, DC.
Authoring Institution: National Center for Research on Teacher Education, East Lansing, MI.
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A