Project TALL Math Teachers as Learners Learning Mathematics

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Project TALL MathTeachers as Learners Learning
Mathematics

• Thomasenia Lott Adams
• Associate Professor
• School of Teaching Learning
• Director of Graduate Studies
• College of Education

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Research Team

• Thomasenia Lott Adams, Principal Investigator
• Mathematics Education Graduate Students
• Joanne LaFramenta, Specialist Student National
  Board Certified Teacher
• Emily Peterek, Doctoral Student Alumni Fellow
• Kristin Spencer, Doctoral Student
• Fatma Aslan-Tutak, Doctoral Student

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Guiding Statement

• To be a good teacher of mathematics, one must
  know some mathematics. Although many teachers
  learned a great deal of mathematics in college,
  there is always a need to learn more, or at least
  learn new things about previously learned topics.
  If one believes that education is a lifelong
  enterprise, then it is crucial that all teachers
  of mathematics continue to be students of
  mathematics.
• (Taylor, 1986, p. 10)

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Purpose

• To engage classroom teachers in professional
  development experiences focused on enhancing and
  increasing the teachers mathematics content
  knowledge and to subsequently study change in
  teachers mathematics content knowledge and the
  impact on students achievement in mathematics

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Highlights from the NCTMTeaching Principle

• In order to teach mathematics effectively,
  teachers must know the mathematics they are
  teaching.
• Teachers need opportunities for professional
  development to continue to improve their teaching
  of mathematics. Professional development
  activities should include means by which teachers
  enhance their knowledge of mathematics.

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Highlights from the NCTMTeaching Principle Contd

• A requirement for students being empowered by and
  with mathematics is that teachers are first
  empowered by and with mathematics.
• One of the means by which we can support this
  principle is through professional development
  experiences in mathematics education that focus
  on teachers mathematics content knowledge.
• (National Council of Teachers of Mathematics,
  2000)

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Theoretical Basis

• Classification for teacher knowledge by Shulman
  (1986)
• Knowledge of subject matter (content knowledge)
• Pedagogical content knowledge
• Knowledge of other content
• Knowledge of the curriculum
• Knowledge of learners
• Knowledge of educational aims
• General pedagogical knowledge

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Why Content Knowledge?

• many US teachers lack sound mathematical
  understanding and skill. This is to be expected
  because most teachers like most other adults in
  this country-are graduates of the very system we
  seek to improve (Ball, Hill Bass, 2005).
• Pre-service teachers limited mathematical
  content knowledge is an obstacle for their
  training on pedagogical and didactical knowledge
  (Brown and Borko, 1992).

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Why Content Knowledge? Contd

• As teachers increase their conceptual knowledge
  and become more fluid in connecting their
  knowledge to lesson presentations, their
  students mathematical competence should also
  improve (Leinhardt Smith, 1985).
• Lack of content knowledge makes teachers more
  dependent on the textbook and less flexible for
  changes in classroom teaching (Carpenter,
  Fennema, Peterson Carey, 1988).

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Why Content Knowledge? Contd

• There is a paucity of research focused on the
  mathematics content knowledge of teachers for
  contents of geometry and measurement. These and
  other mathematics concepts are interrelated and
  contributes to the complexity of what is intended
  for mathematics content knowledge.
• An approach to teachers as learners provides an
  opportunity to promote quality in teaching as
  teachers understanding of the content increases.
  As a result of teachers having the potential to
  be able to present more meaningful content, an
  expectation for increase in student achievement
  is warranted.

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Primary Research Questions

• What is the nature of the teachers mathematics
  content knowledge prior to participation in
  professional development experiences designed to
  enhance and increase teachers mathematics
  content knowledge?
• What is the nature of the teachers mathematics
  content knowledge and ways they express change in
  their mathematics content knowledge as a result
  of participation in these professional
  development experiences?
• What is the impact of enhancing and increasing
  teachers mathematics content knowledge on
  students achievement in mathematics?

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Research Sample

• Alachua County public elementary schools
• Metcalfe Elementary School
• Prairie View Academy
• 21 teachers for all grades 1-5 across the two
  schools
• Approximately 450-500 students

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Methodology

• Teachers will be randomly assigned to an
  experimental group or a control group.
• Random assignment will occur within grade levels
  in each school. Classes will remain intact.

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Methodology Prior to Treatment

• All Teachers
• Survey Teaching Mathematics in the Elementary
  School The Voices of Classroom Teachers Adams,
  T. L., Hsu, J. (1998).
• At least one classroom observation of mathematics
  instruction
• Mathematics (auto)biography
• All Students
• Group Mathematics Assessment and Diagnostic
  Evaluation (G-Made), AGS Publishing, for
  individual grades (for pre- and post-test)

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Methodology Treatment

• Treatment group teachers will participate in 35
  professional development modules
• Two professional development strategies outlined
  by the Ideas That Work Mathematics Professional
  Development
• Immerse the teachers in into mathematics
• Implementation of a long-term course design
• (Eisenhower National Clearinghouse, 2000)

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Methodology Pre-Module

• Prior to the treatment teachers engagement in
  each professional development module, each
  teacher will participate in the following
• Mathematics pre-assessment
• Interview (includes follow-up from other data
  collection methods)
• Teacher-made artifacts (e.g., lesson plan,
  exploration, activity, assessment project, etc.)
• Classroom observation

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Methodology The Modules

• Adams, T. L. (2005). Measurement and geometry
  Perimeter, area, and volume. Orlando, FL
  Harcourt School Publishers.
• Adams, T. L. (2004). Elementary mathematics
  concepts video library. Gainesville, FL UF
  Office of Academic Technology.
• Adams, T. L. (2003). Hands-on and minds-on
  explorations (focus on geometry). Engineering
  Math Excellence GatorTrax Project. Gainesville,
  FL UF College of Engineering.

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Methodology The Modules Contd

• Braumbaugh, D., Andersen, J., Adams, T. L.
  (2003). Algebraic reasoning. Orlando, FL UCF
  Academy for Teaching, Learning, and Leadership.
• Dixon, J. K. Adams, T. L. (2002). Living spaces
  learning places Geometry in the city. Orlando,
  FL UCF Academy for Teaching, Learning, and
  Leadership.

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Methodology Post-Module

• Following the treatment teachers engagement in
  each professional development module, each
  teacher will participate in the following
• Module evaluation (feedback regarding their
  experience in the module)
• Mathematics post-assessment (parallel version of
  the pre-assessment)
• New teacher-made artifact
• Classroom observation

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Methodology Post Treatment

• Teachers closure session
• Students G-Made mathematics achievement test as
  post-test
• Completion of data analysis

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Funding

• Multi-University Reading, Mathematics,
• and Science Initiative
• Florida State University/
• Learning Systems Institute
• US Department of Education
• Amount 160,000.00
• September 2005-July 2006