Analysing Student Work Involving Geometric Concepts

Hyunyi Jung reflects on why students struggle to understand trigonometry

Nature of Mathematical Modeling Tasks for Secondary Mathematics Preservice Teachers

This study investigated the nature of written modeling tasks reported by instructors of required courses in five secondary mathematics teacher education programs. These tasks were analyzed based on a framework addressing potential cognitive orientation (simple procedures, complex procedures, and rich tasks) and purpose (epistemological, educational, contextual, and socio-critical modeling) of the tasks. Our analysis suggests that most tasks included questions of more than one cognitive orientation and more than half of the tasks were coded as contextual modeling. We also found that tasks that were coded as contextual modeling offered opportunities for future teachers to engage with questions at all levels of cognitive orientation. The nature of several modeling tasks, along with the ideas for refining the current frameworks, are presented for future implications of analyzing and developing modeling tasks

Preparing Secondary Mathematics Teachers: Focus on Modeling in Algebra

This study addressed the opportunities to learn (OTL) modeling in algebra provided to secondary mathematics pre-service teachers (PSTs). To investigate these OTL, we interviewed five instructors of required mathematics and mathematics education courses that had the potential to include opportunities for PSTs to learn algebra at three universities. We also interviewed a group of three to four PSTs at each of the universities. We coded the interview transcripts using an analytic framework developed based on related literature and policy documents. We report the similarities and differences in perspectives among instructors and PSTs related to modeling at each university, along with comparisons of OTL across universities

Group Presentations as a Site for Collective Modeling Activity

We approach student presentations of solutions to modeling tasks as occasions for whole-class reflection on the rich conceptual work that small-group teams have done in parallel. Analyzing and interpreting these interactions can offer insights into how a classroom group negotiates a shared sense of what they have learned and what they collectively view as “newsworthy” across groups from their recent (and ongoing) model-building. We describe analytical tools to interpret a classroom’s work during presentations, and we illustrate their use in a single case. This work offers a foothold for design-based research to harness presentations to improve learning, drive instructional decisions, and illuminate modeling processes at both individual and group levels

Mathematical Modeling Experiences: Narratives from a Preservice Teacher and an Instructor

Regardless of the benefits of engaging in mathematical modeling, few preservice teachers (PTs) have experienced mathematical modeling firsthand. This study offers an example of how to make sense of the interaction between the teaching and learning of mathematical modeling by examining a teacher educator’s decision making, her analysis of 36 PTs’ learning, and an in-depth narrative from a PT. Findings show the value of engaging with structurally relevant mathematical modeling tasks and considering social issues via mathematical modeling, resulting in task designs which aim to deepen students’ understanding of society and mathematics

Preservice Mathematics Teachers\u27 Conceptions and Enactments of Modeling Standards

Mathematical modeling has been highlighted recently as Common Core State Standards for Mathematics [CCSSM] included Model with Mathematics as one of the Standards for Mathematical Practices [SMP] and a modeling strand in the high school standards. This common aspect of standards across most states in the U.S. intended by CCSSM authors and policy makers seems to mitigate the diverse notions of mathematical modeling. When we observed secondary mathematics preservice teachers [PSTs] who learned about the SMP and used CCSSM modeling standards to plan and enact lessons, however, we noted differences in their interpretations and enactments of the standards, despite their attendance in the same course sections during a teacher preparation program. This result led us to investigate the ways the PSTs understood modeling standards, which could provide insights into better preparing teachers to teach mathematical modeling. We present the contrasting ways in which PSTs presented modeling related to their conceptions of mathematical modeling, choices of problems, and enactments over an academic year, connecting their practices to extant research. We consider this teaching and research experience as an opportunity to make significant changes in our instruction that may result in our students enhanced implementation of mathematical modeling

Maintaining Rich Dialogic Interactions in the Transition to Synchronous Online Learning

A central premise across a variety of educational research and policy documents is that students learn with greater understanding in classrooms where they engage in exploring, reasoning, and communicating about their thinking (Hiebert and Wearne, 1993; National Council of Teachers of English, 2016; National Council of Teachers of Mathematics, 2000). With the recent emergency transition to remote online instruction in higher education, opportunities for rich synchronous learning have been diminished in many courses. Most instructors have had to adapt rapidly from in-person classroom settings to online environments without sufficient time and training. Accordingly, college students have shared concerns about the lack of opportunities to interact with others. We offer a design case (Boling, 2010), based on the recent experiences of the first author, capturing an approach to making the transition from in-person to remote learning while maintaining a course’s synchronous, dialogic nature. We describe principles of instructional design and implementation that became salient in this case, grounding our account in evidence from student voices and perspectives. We investigate how these principles might make a shift to synchronous online instruction manageable for instructors

Learning About Modeling in Teacher Preparation Programs

This study explores opportunities that secondary mathematics teacher preparation programs provide to learn about modeling in algebra. Forty-eight course instructors and ten focus groups at five universities were interviewed to answer questions related to modeling. With the analysis of the interview transcripts and related course materials, we found few opportunities for PSTs to engage with the full modeling cycle. Examples of opportunities to learn about algebraic modeling and the participants’ perspectives on the opportunities can contribute to the study of modeling and algebra in teacher education

Mathematics Learning, Teaching, and Equity in Policy and Programs: The Case of Secondary Mathematics Teacher Education in the United States

Professional organizations have provided recommendations for mathematics teaching and learning; however, few studies have investigated the practical integration of those recommendations into mathematics teacher education programs. In this study, we examine how the reported “big ideas” of courses in secondary mathematics teacher education programs emphasized the content and teaching practices necessary for future mathematics teachers, as recommended by policy documents. As part of a larger study, we conducted a series of interviews in secondary mathematics teacher education programs at four universities (names are descriptive pseudonyms): Great Lakes University (GLU), Midwestern Research University (MRU), Midwestern Urban University (MUU), and Southeastern Research University (SRU). We selected the institutions and programs based on their Carnegie Classification, the types of communities in which they were situated, the average number of graduates from a program, the departmental homes of their secondary mathematics education programs, and the demographics of their student populations. The analysis of data collected from 12 courses across four universities revealed specific ways in which big ideas in secondary mathematics teacher education programs emphasized areas related to mathematics learning, teaching, and issues of equity and access