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Supporting children’s mathematical understanding: professional development focused on out-of-school practices

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Abstract

This study describes the Reflection Connection Cycle professional development designed to support teachers’ use and appreciation of students’ out-of-school practices related to school mathematics. The year-long program incorporated group lesson design, readings, and video analysis for 14 elementary school (ages 5–12) teachers. Analysis of lesson development, written reflections, and analysis of teacher talk revealed important patterns related to the difficulty in writing lessons that built on students’ informal understandings. While initial lessons focused solely on the context of practices like gardening and sports, subsequent lessons show a greater concern for the mathematics in which children were engaged within a practice. A Multi-approach Engagement Framework is presented both as a tool to support further professional development efforts and as a means to describe stability and change in teachers’ efforts to connect in-school and out-of-school mathematical understandings.

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Acknowledgments

The author would like to thank Anita Wager, the co-facilitator of the professional development program, and the assistance of student researchers Ruben Navarro, Lilia Vreeland, and Bradford Whitman. Miriam Sherin provided valuable feedback to an earlier draft of this manuscript. The material in this paper is based in part on work supported by the National Science Foundation under Grant No. ESI-0119732 to the Diversity in Mathematics Education Center for Learning and Teaching (DiME). Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the position, policy, or endorsement of the National Science Foundation.

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  1. Learning Sciences, Northwestern University, 2120 Campus Drive, Evanston, IL, 60208, USA

    Edd V. Taylor

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Appendix

Appendix

Bibliography of required readings included in the analysis

  • Bottge, B. A. (2001). Reconceptualizing math problem solving for low-achieving students. Remedial and Special Education, 22, 102–112

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  • Taylor, E. V. (2000, April). Multi-unit conceptual understanding in low-income African-American first and second grade students: The influence of currency knowledge. Paper presented at the annual meeting of the American Educational Research Association, New Orleans, LA.

  • Watanabe, T. (1996). Ben’s understanding of one-half. Teaching Children Mathematics, 2(8), 460–464.

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Taylor, E.V. Supporting children’s mathematical understanding: professional development focused on out-of-school practices. J Math Teacher Educ 15, 271–291 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10857-011-9187-7

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