Teaching Toward Equity in Mathematics

This research is a qualitative case study examining changes in urban Canadian elementary teachers’ conceptualizations of equity and approaches to pedagogy in their mathematics teaching in relation to their involvement in multiple professional learning contexts. The study focuses on four major professional development (PD) efforts in which five focal teachers participated over a school year. Data sources include researcher observations, field notes, video-recordings of PD sessions and classroom mathematics teaching, as well as a series of one-on-one interviews. Data analysis revealed three main ideas related to equity that were adopted by focal teachers: 1) the importance of developing awareness of students and their communities; 2) teaching strategies to scaffold students’ development of mathematical proficiency; and 3) strategies for structuring student-driven, inquiry-based learning for mathematics. The multiple contexts of professional learning presented contradictory messages. Thus, teachers took up some ideas and left others behind and sometimes took up ideas that served conflicting goals of education. Future studies of teacher PD should focus on the teacher’s perspective and the role of any individual PD within the multiple contexts of professional learning in which teachers participate.Ph

Teaching Mathematics for Social Justice in Multicultural, Multilingual Elementary Classrooms

This article describes a set of collaborative inquiry projects that emerged from a research study group involving teachers, university researchers (the authors), and school district staff as they worked to teach mathematics equitably in an urban elementary school. The project is analyzed using Marilyn Cochran-Smith’s six principles of pedagogy for teaching for social justice. In the study group, teachers were involved in designing research projects to honour their students’ cultural and community knowledge and to develop mathematics teaching with a social justice focus. We offer three examples of teaching mathematics for social justice in diverse classrooms, and consider the broader implications of inquiry projects such as these.The research was supported by a grant from the Council of Ontario Directors of Education

Towards culturally relevant and responsive teaching of mathematics

Teacher learning related to the teaching of mathematics in a culturally relevant and responsive way was investigated across various professional development (PD) contexts. The research team examined which of the PD ideas teachers took up and what contradictions teachers faced across multiple PD contexts. This study focused on four major PD efforts in which five teachers participated during one year. Ethnographic methods of participant observation, document collection, and interviews were used, and three main ideas were identified: (a) the importance of developing awareness of students and their communities, (b) teaching strategies to scaffold students’ development of mathematical proficiency, and (c) strategies for structuring student-driven, inquiry based learning for mathematics. A significant research finding indicates that multiple contexts of professional learning presented contradictory messages. Thus, the teachers took up some ideas and left others behind, and they sometimes took up ideas that served conflicting goals of education. An outcome of this study indicates that future studies of teacher PD should focus on the teachers’ perspectives and on the role of individual PD programs within the broader context of multiple professional learning situations.N

Relations between numerical, spatial, and executive function skills and mathematics achievement: A latent-variable approach

© 2018 Elsevier Inc. Current evidence suggests that numerical, spatial, and executive function (EF) skills each play critical and independent roles in the learning and performance of mathematics. However, these conclusions are largely based on isolated bodies of research and without measurement at the latent variable level. Thus, questions remain regarding the latent structure and potentially shared and unique relations between numerical, spatial, EF, and mathematics abilities. The purpose of the current study was to (i) confirm the latent structure of the hypothesized constructs of numerical, spatial, and EF skills and mathematics achievement, (ii) measure their unique and shared relations with one another, and (iii) test a set of novel hypotheses aimed to more closely reveal the underlying nature of the oft reported space-math association. Our analytical approach involved latent-variable analyses (structural equation modeling) with a sample of 4- to 11-year-old children (N = 316, M age = 6.68 years). Results of a confirmatory factor analysis demonstrated that numerical, spatial, EF, and mathematics skills are highly related, yet separable, constructs. Follow-up structural analyses revealed that numerical, spatial, and EF latent variables explained 84% of children\u27s mathematics achievement scores, controlling for age. However, only numerical and spatial performance were unique predictors of mathematics achievement. The observed patterns of relations and developmental trajectories remained stable across age and grade (preschool – 4th grade). Follow-up mediation analyses revealed that numerical skills, but not EF skills, partially mediated the relation between spatial skills and mathematics achievement. Overall, our results point to spatial visualization as a unique and robust predictor of children\u27s mathematics achievement

Deepening Inclusive and Community-Engaged Education in Three Schools: A Teachers' Resource

In 2009 the Toronto District School Board (TDSB) initiated the Inclusive Schools three-year pilot project with the intent to engage teachers, teacher educators, students, parents, staff, and administrators in investigating and developing effective inclusive curriculum and instructional practices that could be implemented in classrooms and school-wide. In addition, the project aimed to identify practices and factors that contribute to improved student engagement and learning and that strengthen community connections. Over a three-year period, three TDSB elementary schools - Carleton Village Public School, Flemington Public School, and Grey Owl Junior Public School - carried out 19 school-based inquiries. School-based inquiries were grounded in a professional learning process that emphasized inquiry, partnership, collaboration, action and reflection, and professional choice and responsibility. Participants had different understandings and experiences, which they brought to their particular investigations. This teachers’ resource contains reports on school-based inquiries into effective inclusive curriculum practices. It is intended for teachers who are considering the integration of inclusive approaches in their day-to-day work in schools. As such, the purpose of this resource is to contribute toward understanding how to support student learning and ongoing teacher education in ways that are responsive to today’s educational context

Inquiry into Practice: Reaching Every Student Through Inclusive Curriculum

Inquiry into Practice: Reaching Every Student Through Inclusive Curriculum addresses some of the challenges that educators face as they try to identify barriers to equity and inclusion or try to implement some of the promising practices being developed to meet these challenges and create supportive learning environments. The aim of this publication is to increase understanding of different perspectives on inclusive curriculum, highlight a range of practices that teachers explore to enhance learning for all students, and illustrate how teacher education programs can better respond to learner diversity in today’s educational context.Council of Ontario Directors of Education and the Ontario Ministry of Educatio