Mathematics Teacher Education in the Public Interest


Book Description

Mathematics teacher education has a critical role to play in preparing teachers to put at center stage goals to support equity in mathematics education and to diversify student interest and participation in mathematics. These goals must also resonate with broader public interest goals to improve educational and social conditions both in the U.S. and abroad. The Mathematics Teacher Education in the Public Interest book aims to support mathematics teacher educators to prepare teachers with new knowledge and skills to support all students to learn mathematics and to become informed, engaged, and critical citizens within their community, nation, and world. While internationally there is considerable interest among mathematics educators in issues of equity and social justice, the literature on mathematics teacher education for equity and social justice thus far has been very limited.The book provides theoretical discussions on the need for equity and social justice emphases in mathematics teacher education, as well as practical examples from mathematics teacher educators, documenting their own professional efforts to center practices on equity and social justice. Section emphases include critical perspectives on mathematics teacher education, the use of equity and social justice-themed activities in mathematics teacher preparation courses, and issues of identity and community and cultural contexts in mathematics teacher education. In addition syntheses of major ideas of the book are offered by experienced researchers.




Research Trends in Mathematics Teacher Education


Book Description

Research on the preparation and continued development of mathematics teachers is becoming an increasingly important subset of mathematics education research. Such research explores the attributes, knowledge, skills and beliefs of mathematics teachers as well as methods for assessing and developing these critical aspects of teachers and influences on teaching. Research Trends in Mathematics Teacher Education focuses on three major themes in current mathematics teacher education research: mathematical knowledge for teaching, teacher beliefs and identities, and tools and techniques to support teacher learning. Through careful reports of individual research studies and cross-study syntheses of the state of research in these areas, the book provides insights into teachers’ learning processes and how these processes can be harnessed to develop effective teachers. Chapters investigate bedrock skills needed for working with primary and secondary learners (writing relevant problems, planning lessons, being attentive to student learning) and illustrate how knowledge can be accessed, assessed, and nurtured over the course of a teaching career. Commentaries provide context for current research while identifying areas deserving future study. Included among the topics: Teachers’ curricular knowledge Teachers’ personal and classroom mathematics Teachers’ learning journeys toward reasoning and sense-making Teachers’ transitions in noticing Teachers’ uses of a learning trajectory as a tool for mathematics lesson planning A unique and timely set of perspectives on the professional development of mathematics teachers at all stages of their careers, Research Trends in Mathematics Teacher Education brings clarity and practical advice to researchers as well as practitioners in this increasingly critical arena.




Handbook of Mathematics


Book Description

This guide book to mathematics contains in handbook form the fundamental working knowledge of mathematics which is needed as an everyday guide for working scientists and engineers, as well as for students. Easy to understand, and convenient to use, this guide book gives concisely the information necessary to evaluate most problems which occur in concrete applications.




Standards for Preparing Teachers of Mathematics


Book Description

AMTE, in the Standards for Preparing Teachers of Mathematics, puts forward a national vision of initial preparation for all Pre-K-12 teachers who teach mathematics. SPTM pertains not only to middle and high school mathematics teachers who may teach mathematics exclusively but also to elementary school teachers teaching all disciplines, special education teachers, teachers of emergent multilingual students, and all other teaching professionals and administrators who have responsibility for students' mathematical learning. SPTM has broad implications for teacher preparation programs, in which stakeholders include faculty and administrators in both education and mathematics at the university level; teachers, principals, and district leaders in the schools with which preparation programs partner; and the communities in which preparation programs and their school partners are situated. SPTM is intended as a national guide that articulates a vision for mathematics teacher preparation and supports the continuous improvement of teacher preparation programs. Such continuous improvement includes changes to preparation program courses and structures, partnerships involving schools and universities and their leaders, the ongoing accreditation of such programs regionally and nationally, and the shaping of state and national mathematics teacher preparation policy. SPTM is also designed to inform accreditation processes for mathematics teacher preparation programs, to influence policies related to preparation of teachers of mathematics, and to promote national dialogue around preparing teachers of mathematics. The vision articulated in SPTM is aspirational in that it describes a set of high expectations for developing a well-prepared beginning mathematics teacher who can support meaningful student learning. The vision is research-based and establishes a set of goals for the continued development and refinement of a mathematics teacher preparation program and a research agenda for the study of the effects of such a program. SPTM contains detailed depictions of what a well-prepared beginning teacher knows and is able to do related to content, pedagogy, and disposition, and what a strong preparation program entails with respect to learning experiences, assessments, and partnerships. Stakeholders in mathematics teacher preparation will find messages related to their roles. Standards for Preparing Teachers of Mathematics includes standards and indicators for teacher candidates and for the design of teacher preparation programs. SPTM outlines assessment practices related to overall quality, program effectiveness, and candidate performance. SPTM describes specific focal practices by grade band and provides guidance to stakeholders regarding processes for productive change.




Compendium for Early Career Researchers in Mathematics Education


Book Description

The purpose of this Open Access compendium, written by experienced researchers in mathematics education, is to serve as a resource for early career researchers in furthering their knowledge of the state of the field and disseminating their research through publishing. To accomplish this, the book is split into four sections: Empirical Methods, Important Mathematics Education Themes, Academic Writing and Academic Publishing, and a section Looking Ahead. The chapters are based on workshops that were presented in the Early Career Researcher Day at the 13th International Congress on Mathematical Education (ICME-13). The combination of presentations on methodological approaches and theoretical perspectives shaping the field in mathematics education research, as well as the strong emphasis on academic writing and publishing, offered strong insight into the theoretical and empirical bases of research in mathematics education for early career researchers in this field. Based on these presentations, the book provides a state-of-the-art overview of important theories from mathematics education and the broad variety of empirical approaches currently widely used in mathematics education research. This compendium supports early career researchers in selecting adequate theoretical approaches and adopting the most appropriate methodological approaches for their own research. Furthermore, it helps early career researchers in mathematics education to avoid common pitfalls and problems while writing up their research and it provides them with an overview of the most important journals for research in mathematics education, helping them to select the right venue for publishing and disseminating their work.




Building Support for Scholarly Practices in Mathematics Methods


Book Description

Building Support for Scholarly Practices in Mathematics Methods is the product of collaborations among over 40 mathematics teacher educators (MTEs) who teach mathematics methods courses for prospective PreK?12 teachers in many different institutional contexts and structures. Each chapter unpacks ways in which MTEs use theoretical perspectives to inform their construction of goals, activities designed to address those goals, facilitation of activities, and ways in which MTEs make sense of experiences prospective teachers have as a result. The book is organized in seven sections that highlight how the theoretical perspective of the instructor impacts scholarly inquiry and practice. The final section provides insight as we look backward to reflect, and forward with excitement, moving with the strength of the variation we found in our stories and the feeling of solidarity that results in our understandings of purposes for and insight into teaching mathematics methods. This book can serve as a resource for MTEs as they discuss and construct scholarly practices and as they undertake scholarly inquiry as a means to systematically examine their practice.




Tasks in Primary Mathematics Teacher Education


Book Description

Tasks in Primary Mathematics Teacher Education is intended to advance relevant research and innovative international practices in the preparation and professional development of mathematics teachers. Emerging from discussion at the ICMI study on teacher professional development, this volume, focused on primary and elementary teachers, culls a richness that can only be found by gathering wisdom from varied experiences around the world. The choice of tasks, and the associated pedagogies, is a key aspect of teaching and learning mathematics. Arguing that what students learn is largely defined by the tasks they are given, several major themes are presented. One such major strand, the form, function and focus of tasks, is discussed throughout several chapters, offering analysis, discussion of implementation, and exemplars of a broader category of illustrative techniques for developing critical understanding.




Principles to Actions


Book Description

This text offers guidance to teachers, mathematics coaches, administrators, parents, and policymakers. This book: provides a research-based description of eight essential mathematics teaching practices ; describes the conditions, structures, and policies that must support the teaching practices ; builds on NCTM's Principles and Standards for School Mathematics and supports implementation of the Common Core State Standards for Mathematics to attain much higher levels of mathematics achievement for all students ; identifies obstacles, unproductive and productive beliefs, and key actions that must be understood, acknowledged, and addressed by all stakeholders ; encourages teachers of mathematics to engage students in mathematical thinking, reasoning, and sense making to significantly strengthen teaching and learning.




The Professional Education and Development of Teachers of Mathematics


Book Description

The premise of the 15th ICMI Study is that teachers are key to students' opportunities to learn mathematics. What teachers of mathematics know, care about, and do is a product of their experiences and socialization, together with the impact of their professional education. The Professional Education and Development of Teachers of Mathematics assembles important new international work- development, research, theory and practice - concerning the professional education of teachers of mathematics. As it examines critical areas to reveal what is known and what significant questions and problems warrant collective attention, the volume also contributes to the strengthening of the international community of mathematics educators. The Professional Education and Development of Teachers of Mathematics is of interest to the mathematics education community as well as to other researchers, practitioners and policy makers concerned with the professional education of teachers.




Teacher Education Matters


Book Description

Based on a major international teacher education research project—the Mathematics Teaching in the 21st Century Study (MT21)—this book investigates the preservice preparation of middle school mathematics teachers in the United States, South Korea, Taiwan, Germany, Bulgaria, and Mexico. The study was funded by the National Science Foundation and the participating countries. William Schmidt (co-author of the influential TIMSS study on student test results in science and math) and Maria Teresa Tatto (director of the Teacher Education and Development study, or TEDS-M) led a collaborative team of international researchers in this study. Using the results of more than 2,500 surveys, the authors examine the differential contribution of the six countries’ teacher-education models to the knowledge, skills, and dispositions of their future mathematics teachers. Case studies and detailed analyses of the teacher education curriculum across the participating countries provide rich contextual information to explain the survey findings. This study is the first to examine the resource allocation and economic support in teacher education vis-à-vis other mathematics-related professions, and it shows that differential investment patterns are consistent with the level of teaching knowledge found in each country’s new teachers. The book includes a chapter on policy implications, with a special focus on teacher preparation in the United States.