2013 Conference Proceedings - University of Nevada, Las Vegas

THE PATH OF REFORM IN SECONDARY MATHEMATICS CLASSROOMS:SOME ISSUES AND SOME HOPEMichael MikusaKent State Universitymmikusa@kent.eduScott CourtneyKent State Universityscourtn5@kent.eduJoanne CanigliaKent State Universityjcanigl1@kent.eduIn this study an entire mathematics faculty (11 secondary mathematics teachers and 4intervention specialists) were engaged in professional development over 2 years. Theprofessional development activities were aimed at improving the learning of mathematics by allstudents at the school. The PD ranged from mathematics content for the teachers where theyengaged in solving rich problems to assessing video tapes of teachers teaching and studentslearning mathematics from a constructivist perspective. This paper focuses on some of the keyissues that kept these teachers from reforming their classroom consistent with what they werelearning during the professional development.The TIMSS data indicates that our students are not keeping up with the rest of the world intheir performance in mathematics. A video study that was completed as part of the TIMSSproject indicates that teaching in secondary schools is also in need of professionaldevelopment. In their study, Hiebert and Stigler (2004) describe the shortcomings of currentsecondary teaching in the video case studies from the 1999 TIMSS study. "Although teachers inthe United States presented problems of both types (practicing skills vs. ‘making connections’),they did something different than their international colleagues when working on the conceptualproblems with students. For these problems, they almost always stepped in and did the work forthe students or ignored the conceptual aspect of the problem when discussing it." One reason forthis type of behavior may be that secondary teachers need experience themselves in solving richproblems and building connections between and among the different topics within mathematicsbefore they can successfully help students be more engaged in this type of teaching and learning.The Mathematical Association of America (MAA), comprised of mathematicians andmathematics educators, explains in its landmark document, The Mathematical Education ofTeachers (2001), that the mathematical knowledge needed for teaching is quite different fromthat required by persons in other mathematics-related professions. Teachers need an especiallyprofound understanding of the concepts of mathematics so that they can teach it as a coherent,sense-making, reasoned activity. For this to be accomplished, MAA recommends collaborationProceedings of the 40 th Annual Meeting of the Research Council on Mathematics Learning 2013 116