Learning From Practice About Improving the Quality of Mathematics Teacher Research
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Teachers who continually engage in cycles of research may be characterized as having a stance of inquiry: They continually reflect on their past teaching, ask themselves questions to problematize their current practices, and collect and analyze data to inform future teaching practices. We guided 154 mathematics teachers, distributed across 6 cohorts, in conducting classroom research projects. Our purposes and expectations as teacher educators have become more clearly defined and articulated based on our reflections on 6 iterations of teacher research. Repeatedly, we have adjusted how we facilitated the design and implementation of the projects to improve the quality of teachers' research. Over time, we have come to understand teacher research as a way of helping teachers develop a stance of inquiry toward mathematical content, students' mathematical understandings, and productive mathematical teaching practices rather than as merely a culminating project for a master's degree.
Contributor Notes
Wendy M. Smith, University of Nebraska–Lincoln, Center for Science, Mathematics and Computer Education, 251 Avery Hall, Lincoln, NE 68588-0131; wsmith5@unl.edu
1 The authors acknowledge the support of the National Science Foundation (EHR-0412502) for this research. All ideas expressed in this paper are the authors' and do not reflect the views of the funding agency.
