CAREER: An Integrated Approach to Researching Teacher Change

Vanderbilt University, Nashville TN

Investigators

Abstract

The purpose of the proposed work is to coordinate the activities of testing and refining a trajectory for supporting teacher change with that of testing and refining an interpretive framework as a lens for analyzing that change in both pre- and in-service teachers' perceptions of what it means to teach mathematics effectively and how they develop an understanding of the complexities involved. Following Simon (1997), a hypothetical learning trajectory for teachers is proposed that builds from the current literature on teacher change by incorporating the following: 1. the importance of a deep understanding of the mathematics to be taught, 2. a focus on pedagogical strategies to support students' learning of significant mathematics, 3. a focus on students' diverse ways of reasoning on tasks, 4. lesson planning and design that takes account of students' current understandings, and 5. teacher-developed cases from the classroom as tools for reflection and critique. The trajectory therefore involves conjectures about both a learning route and the means of supporting that learning. The research will test an interpretive framework referred to as the Critical Aspects of Teachers' Knowledge: knowledge of content, knowledge of pedagogy, and knowledge of institutional context. This framework builds from Shulman's (1986) notion of pedagogical content knowledge to take account of the importance of both content and pedagogy in teaching for understanding. It extends this work by also acknowledging the importance of the institutional context of the teachers and its implications for their decision-making. Numerous scholars have noted the lack of carefully constructed and empirically grounded frameworks for characterizing the process of teacher change. Thus, research is needed that more fully explicates the criteria for conducting rigorous analyses of teacher change. This study addresses the need by combining the efforts of testing and revising the conjectured learning trajectory with analysis framed in terms of the Critical Aspects of Teachers' Knowledge. This process is therefore positioned to make a significant contribution and provide the opportunity for development of new theories in the field. The proposed work takes place in two phases. The first entails collaborating with a cohort of in-service teachers (grades six through eight) with the goal of supporting and analyzing their practice in order to document change. The activities of the cohort will build from the conjectured learning trajectory to include a focus on 1) an in-depth exploration of mathematics, 2) development of lesson sequences to address the mathematics, and 3) development of cases from the teachers' classrooms where the teaching of these lessons is the focus. The second phase of work involves taking the teacher-developed cases as resources for modifying a mathematics methods course for pre-service teachers so that it focuses on the Critical Aspects of Teachers' Knowledge. In this way, the cases first serve as a vehicle for the in-service teachers' change and then later as the tools for supporting an emerging practice in the pre-service teachers. As a result, this process provides a rich setting in which to investigate the utility of the interpretive framework as a lens for analysis of both pre- and in-service teachers' growth and change, tightly integrating the research and education activities.