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Full-Text Articles in Education
Supporting Novice Mathematics Teacher Educators Teaching Elementary Mathematics Content Courses For The First Time, Siobahn Suppa, Joseph Dinapoli, Eva Thanheiser, Jennifer M. Tobias, Sheunghyun Yeo
Supporting Novice Mathematics Teacher Educators Teaching Elementary Mathematics Content Courses For The First Time, Siobahn Suppa, Joseph Dinapoli, Eva Thanheiser, Jennifer M. Tobias, Sheunghyun Yeo
Mathematics and Statistics Faculty Publications and Presentations
In order to be effectively prepared by a teacher education program, prospective elementary teachers (PTs) need to experience high quality mathematics instruction in their mathematics content courses. The instructors of these courses typically consist of individuals (mathematicians and mathematics educators) with ranging experiences, from tenured faculty members to first-year assistant professors or graduate students. This paper explores how to support novice mathematics teacher educators (MTEs) who are teaching elementary content coursework for PTs for the first time. We detail and describe how to implement three systems for supporting novice MTEs: working with a mentor, being provided with educative curriculum materials, …
Increasing Student Cognitive Engagement In The Math Classroom Through Sustained Professional Development, Eva Thanheiser, Brenda Rosencrans, Kathleen Mary Melhuish, Joshua B. Fagan, Layla Guyot
Increasing Student Cognitive Engagement In The Math Classroom Through Sustained Professional Development, Eva Thanheiser, Brenda Rosencrans, Kathleen Mary Melhuish, Joshua B. Fagan, Layla Guyot
Mathematics and Statistics Faculty Publications and Presentations
We share the case of one teacher engaged in professional development (PD) designed to improve collective argumentation. We present an analysis of two lessons in her classroom, one before and one after her engagement with the professional development. Findings show that the classrooms differ across both teacher support for collective argumentation (requesting ideas and elaboration vs. requesting/acts and methods), and student contributions Oustifications vs. procedures and facts) .
Connecting Teachers’ Buy-Into Professional Development With Classroom Habits And Practices, Joshua B. Fagan, Kathleen Mary Melhuish, Eva Thanheiser, Brenda Rosencrans, Layla Guyot, Jodi I. Fasteen
Connecting Teachers’ Buy-Into Professional Development With Classroom Habits And Practices, Joshua B. Fagan, Kathleen Mary Melhuish, Eva Thanheiser, Brenda Rosencrans, Layla Guyot, Jodi I. Fasteen
Mathematics and Statistics Faculty Publications and Presentations
While professional development (PD) provides an opportunity for teachers to cultivate skills that are consistent with best practices in the field, it is their buy-into the PD that ultimately determines the effectiveness of the PD. We examined how teacher buy-in affected the classroom habits and practice of four elementary teachers who took part in a district wide PD. Using baseline and first-year implementation video recordings, in conjunction with frameworks for discourse analysis, cognitive demand, and tools built specifically to measure PD implementation, we found that varying combinations of teachers' beliefs served as a mitigating factor for PD implementation.
Measuring Fidelity Of Implementation In A Large-Scale Professional Development Efficacy Study, Kathleen Mary Melhuish, Eva Thanheiser, Brenda Rosencrans
Measuring Fidelity Of Implementation In A Large-Scale Professional Development Efficacy Study, Kathleen Mary Melhuish, Eva Thanheiser, Brenda Rosencrans
Mathematics and Statistics Faculty Publications and Presentations
Fidelity of implementation is the essential link between professional development (PD) experiences and changes in outcomes. Yet, as a field we have few measures available to directly look at implementation. In this poster, we present our preliminary work measuring teachers’ implementation of a research-based PD.
The Language Of Professional Development Leaders, Andrew Riffel, Kathleen Mary Melhuish, Eva Thanheiser
The Language Of Professional Development Leaders, Andrew Riffel, Kathleen Mary Melhuish, Eva Thanheiser
Mathematics and Statistics Faculty Publications and Presentations
Leaders in professional development (PD) initiatives (such as facilitators, principals, coaches) hold a great deal of power in their language, carrying the ability to manage meaning and frame experiences. Rather than working from interview data, this report addresses a gap in leadership research by examining the words used by leaders in their on-the-job interactions. We present an initial framework for capturing leadership language qualities at the macro level (framing the PD’s purpose) and micro level (rhetorical crafting in terms of metaphor usage, pronoun choice, and other language selections). Our data come from a larger project evaluating the efficacy of a …
Teacher Noticing Of Justification: Attending To The Complexity Of Mathematical Content And Practice, Kathleen Mary Melhuish, Eva Thanheiser, Jodi I. Fasteen, Julie Fredericks
Teacher Noticing Of Justification: Attending To The Complexity Of Mathematical Content And Practice, Kathleen Mary Melhuish, Eva Thanheiser, Jodi I. Fasteen, Julie Fredericks
Mathematics and Statistics Faculty Publications and Presentations
In this report, we will consider in-service elementary school teachers' noticing of the mathematical practice: justification. This study is part of a larger project evaluating the efficacy of a three year professional development built around attending to student thinking and promoting mathematical habits of justifying, generalizing and making sense. Noticing just¢cation is a complex task requiring attention to both the (1) mathematical content and strategies and (2) the nature of the argument provided by a student. We have found that teachers' struggle to attend to both aspects simultaneously and offer a framework for considering teacher noticing of mathematical practices.
Prospective Elementary Mathematics Teacher Content Knowledge: What Do We Know, What Do We Not Know, And Where Do We Go?, Eva Thanheiser, Christine Browning, Alden Edson, Jane-Jane Lo, Ian Whitacre, Dana Olanoff, Crystal Morton
Prospective Elementary Mathematics Teacher Content Knowledge: What Do We Know, What Do We Not Know, And Where Do We Go?, Eva Thanheiser, Christine Browning, Alden Edson, Jane-Jane Lo, Ian Whitacre, Dana Olanoff, Crystal Morton
Mathematics and Statistics Faculty Publications and Presentations
The authors reviewed 112 research studies from 1978 to 2012 on prospective elementary teachers' content knowledge in five content areas: whole numbers and operations, fractions, decimals, geometry and measurement, and algebra. Looking across these studies, this final paper identifies the trends and common themes in terms of the counts and types of studies and commonalities among findings. Analyses of the counts show that the number of articles published each year focusing on prospective teacher (PT) content knowledge is increasing. Most articles across the content areas show that PTs tend to rely on procedures rather than concepts. However, the focus of …
Mathematical Content Knowledge For Teaching Elementary Mathematics: A Focus On Whole-Number Concepts And Operations, Eva Thanheiser, Ian Whitacre, George J. Roy
Mathematical Content Knowledge For Teaching Elementary Mathematics: A Focus On Whole-Number Concepts And Operations, Eva Thanheiser, Ian Whitacre, George J. Roy
Mathematics and Statistics Faculty Publications and Presentations
This report represents part of a recent effort to summarize the state of knowledge of prospective elementary teachers' (PTs') mathematics content knowledge and the development thereof. Extensive reviews of the research literature were conducted by a recent PME-NA Working Group across various content areas. This report focuses on whole number and operations. Research in this area is scarce. What we do know from the literature is that PTs' knowledge of whole number and operations is insufficient and in need of improvement. PTs reason about whole numbers and operations in ways that are tied to the standard algorithms. At the same …
Prospective Elementary Mathematics Teacher Content Knowledge: An Introduction, Christine Browning, Eva Thanheiser, Alden Edson, Patrick M. Kimani, Dana Olanoff, Jennifer M. Tobias, Ian Whitacre
Prospective Elementary Mathematics Teacher Content Knowledge: An Introduction, Christine Browning, Eva Thanheiser, Alden Edson, Patrick M. Kimani, Dana Olanoff, Jennifer M. Tobias, Ian Whitacre
Mathematics and Statistics Faculty Publications and Presentations
This Special Issue on the mathematical content knowledge of prospective elementary teachers (PTs) provides summaries of the extant peer-‐reviewed research literature from 1978 to 2012 on PTs’ content knowledge across several mathematical topics, specifically whole number and operations, fractions, decimals, geometry and measurement, and algebra. Each topic-‐specific summary of the literature is presented in a self-‐contained paper, written by a subgroup of a larger Working Group that has collaborated across several years, resulting in this Special Issue sharing the final work. The authors hope this summative look at prospective teacher content knowledge will be of interest to the mathematics education …
Developing Mathematical Content Knowledge For Teaching Elementary School Mathematics, Eva Thanheiser, Christine Browning, Meg Moss, Tad Watanabe, Gina Garza-Kling
Developing Mathematical Content Knowledge For Teaching Elementary School Mathematics, Eva Thanheiser, Christine Browning, Meg Moss, Tad Watanabe, Gina Garza-Kling
Mathematics and Statistics Faculty Publications and Presentations
In this paper the authors present three design principles they use to develop preservice teachers' mathematical content knowledge for teaching in their mathematics content and/or methods courses: (1) building on currently held conceptions, (2) modeling teaching for understanding, (3) focusing on connections between content knowledge and other types of knowledge. The authors share results of individual research projects and teaching approaches focusing on helping preservice elementary teachers develop such knowledge. Specific examples from different content areas (whole number, fractions, angle, and area) are discussed.
Investigating Further Preservice Teachers’ Conceptions Of Multidigit Whole Numbers: Refining A Framework, Eva Thanheiser
Investigating Further Preservice Teachers’ Conceptions Of Multidigit Whole Numbers: Refining A Framework, Eva Thanheiser
Mathematics and Statistics Faculty Publications and Presentations
This study was designed to investigate preservice elementary school teachers’ (PSTs’) responses to written standard place-value-operation tasks (addition and subtraction). Previous research established that PSTs can often perform but not explain algorithms and provided a four-category framework for PSTs’ conceptions, two correct and two incorrect. Previous findings are replicated for PSTs toward the end of their college careers, and two conceptions are further analyzed to yield three categories of incorrect views of regrouped digits: (a) consistently as 1 value (all as 1 or all as 10), (b) consistently within but not across contexts (i.e., all as 10 in addition but …