Teachers Activities at ICME-13

This chapter looks at an in-depth application of meaning equivalence reusable learning objects (MERLO) to mathematics education and teacher professional development. The study has been conducted during professional development courses for in-service teachers and is focused on mathematics teachers' praxeologies, namely their didactical techniques and theoretical aspects embraced to accomplish a task. Specifically, the task given to the teachers consists in designing MERLO items to be used in their classrooms, working in groups or individually, after having been trained by researchers in mathematical education. The chapter presents two case studies with data, one dealing with secondary school teachers in Italy and one concerning primary teachers in Australia. One of the main aims of the study is the analysis of the praxeologies of these teachers when they are engaged in designing MERLO items during professional development programs. The chapter demonstrates, with these examples, the generalizability potential of MERLO items and that they can be used in different cultural and institutional ecosystems.

Teaching Secondary and Middle School Mathematics combines the latest developments in research, standards, and technology with a vibrant writing style to help teachers prepare for the excitement and challenges of teaching secondary and middle school mathematics today. In the fully revised fifth edition, scholar and mathematics educator Daniel Brahier invites teachers to investigate the nature of the mathematics curriculum and reflect on research-based "best practices" as they define and sharpen their own personal teaching styles. The fifth edition has been updated and expanded with a particular emphasis on the continued impact of the Common Core State Standards for Mathematics and NCTM’s just-released Principles to Actions, as well as increased attention to teaching with technology, classroom management, and differentiated instruction. Features include: A full new Chapter 7 on selection and use of specific tools and technology combined with "Spotlight on Technology" features throughout clearly illustrate the practical aspects of how technology can be used for teaching or professional development. Foundational Chapters 1 and 2 on the practices and principles of mathematics education have been revised to build directly on Common Core State Standards for Mathematics and Principles to Actions, with additional references to both documents throughout all chapters. A new Chapter 4 focuses on the use of standards in writing objectives and organizing lesson plan resources while an updated Chapter 5 details each step of the lesson planning process. A fully revised Chapter 12 provides new information on teaching diverse populations and outlines specific details and suggestions for classroom management for mathematics teachers. Classroom Dialogues" features draws on the author’s 35-year experience as an educator to present real-world teacher-student conversations about specific mathematical problems or ideas "How Would You React?" features prepares future teachers for real-life scenarios by engaging them in common classroom situations and offering tried-and-true solutions. With more than 60 practical, classroom-tested teaching ideas, sample lesson and activities, Teaching Secondary and Middle School Mathematics combines the best of theory and practice to provide clear descriptions of what it takes to be an effective teacher of mathematics.

Breastfeeding knowledge among Polish healthcare practitioners supporting breastfeeding mothers

Theory is seen as playing both a foreground role, in the sense that the enterprise of research in mathematics education is to develop theory, and a background role, since all observation is theory laden. After considering different theoretical stances towards observation, data, and analysis, three broad approaches to research in mathematics education are identified and the role played by theory in each of these is discussed. The chapter concludes with some speculations concerning possible directions for development, moving from language as core domain of problematicity, to images, icons, and the impact of electronic media on interpretation in the future.

Aims: The development of knowledge-based economy in Hong Kong requires employees with higher education level and more up-to-date knowledge. Information and communication technology (ICT) industry has been growing rapidly which is important for building a knowledge-based economy by providing higher mobility of information, more efficient communication network and sharing of knowledge between business partners. In 2002 the HKSAR Government has set up a Continuing Education Fund to encourage employees in Hong Kong to improve their education and update their knowledge by enrolling into continuing professional development courses. This policy provides opportunities to courses providers to offer continuing professional development (CPD) courses. Since these CPD courses are provided after work so the courses are conducted by part-time faculty (PTF) and there is a need to recruit part-time staff in delivering these courses. Recruitment of PTF gives course providers the benefit of meeting their teaching needs economically and flexibly but educators have often expressed concern over whether Research Article British Journal of Education, Society & Behavioural Science, 4(1): 52-73, 2014 53 the performance of PTF is in anyway affected by the absence of career development opportunities. Study Design: This study was a quantitative study which used [1] five-component commitment model to examine the effects of the perception of value of career development (VCD) on the commitment components of PTF. Place and Duration of Study: The study was taken in Hong Kong between June 2011 and June 2012. Methodology: Sample data from a population of PTF working at the 450 registered CPD course providers in Hong Kong was collected from an online questionnaire. Finally 270 set of data collated together was analyzed by factor analysis, correlation tests and multiple regression respectively. Results: The results of this study suggest that perceived VCD was affirmed to have a significantly positive influence on employee commitment, while perception of the availability of career development opportunities was found to have a moderating effect on the association between perceived VCD and employee commitment. Conclusion: This study has both theoretical and managerial implications. The examination of the complicated relationship between career development and employee commitment of PTF in Hong Kong’s CPD industry can therefore serve as a useful reference point for both academic researchers and education managers. The findings can also help CPD institutes to formulate suitable human resource strategies for attracting and retaining well-qualified practitioners to become PTF.

This paper reports on the professional development of four mathematics teachers in South Africa. The four teachers all participated in a Mathematical Thinking course before taking an Advanced Certificate in Education in mathematics. The research, which aimed to understand these teachers’ ongoing professional development, took place two years after they had completed the Advanced Certificate in Education course, at a time when they were helping to run a subsequent Mathematical Thinking course, taking the role of teaching assistants. The teachers provided written ‘stories’ of their experiences during and after the two courses and were interviewed twice after the two courses; the first interview drew on the stories and the second drew on the first interview. The qualitative data gathered were analysed using a three-part framework of outcomes: personal, professional and cultural/social. In terms of personal outcomes, they reported renewed confidence and passion for teaching mathematics, changed beliefs and values, and acknowledged new learning experiences; they did not, however, report learning about mathematics, the curriculum or planning. In terms of professional outcomes, they reported changes in both their own classroom teaching practice and their approaches to leadership. Finally, there was little evidence of cultural/social outcomes, but participants reported on opportunities that had been offered to them and on new collaborations in their communities. We have called these ‘community outcomes’ and suggest that ‘cultural/social outcomes’ might be renamed ‘community outcomes’ so that it is extended to include these sorts of opportunities.

A model for investigating and developing mathematics teachers' noticing of argumentation

Writing is important for science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) graduate students to achieve milestones within their programs and for their future career aspirations. However, although STEM graduate students engage in a variety of academic writing activities in their time as doctoral students, writing development has not always been a focus of STEM higher education programs. We designed and implemented a 10-week, one-credit professional development course to support the academic reading and writing practices of first-year chemistry graduate students at a large R1 institution. Students end the course having completed a short independent research proposal and having received structured feedback from the department community. The course scaffolds the students’ writing, integrates collaborative activities such as peer review, and explores social connections as a salient component of not only writing practice but also the graduate school experience. We iteratively designed, implemented, and evaluated the professional development course. Here, we describe the teaching approaches and course contents used to support students’ chemistry writing process. This course may guide the creation of professional development courses to support chemistry graduate students’ writing development at other PhD-granting institutions, and it may be adapted to support academic writing across STEM disciplines.

While digital games hold promise for language learning, teachers often lack the knowledge and confidence to integrate them into their curriculum. Existing professional development opportunities are scarce and not always accessible. In this study, a mobile teacher professional development course on Digital Game-Enhanced Language Learning was designed, developed, and evaluated through three iterative cycles. The research employed a Type 1 design and development research methodology. Three groups of language instructors teaching English at the tertiary level participated in the iterative cycles. Data collection included course evaluation questionnaires, achievement tests, lesson plan development, and participant interviews. The findings indicated that the mobile teacher professional development course was effective in improving teacher perceptions of the course content, usability, and self-efficacy in integrating digital games into their teaching. The course also led to a significant increase in participants’ knowledge of Digital Game-Enhanced Language Learning concepts. Overall, the mobile teacher professional development course has the potential to be a valuable tool for equipping language teachers with the skills and confidence needed to leverage digital games in their classrooms. This is particularly relevant considering the growing need for accessible and flexible professional development opportunities, such as during a global crisis.

This paper introduces a schema for classifying research in mathematics education that deepens and extends the Romberg/Bourne model. It employs dual hierarchical systems, one relating to the research task and the other to the research technique. The six task categories—descriptive, interpretive, prescriptive, analytic, synthetic, and theoretic—are defined with respect to breadth, depth, and scope of a study. The six technique categories—reflective, referential, evidential, clinical, empirical, and experimental—are defined in terms of utilization of resources and design intentions of the investigator. The pairing of task categories with technique categories permits the creation of a classification matrix for research in mathematics education. By examining the location of studies within this task‐technique matrix, both producers and consumers of research in mathematics education can discern historical trends influencing current and future investigations.

The purpose of this evaluation study was to determine whether career and technical education teachers were using the integration strategies that were presented to them in a professional development course. The integration strategies are strategies that teachers can use to integrate reading, writing and mathematics into their technical curricula. The ultimate goal of the professional development course is to help teachers improve academic achievement in career and technical education students; however, the first step in reaching this goal is to explore how teachers feel about integrating these basic academic skills into their technical subject matter and to determine whether they are using the strategies that were taught in the professional development course. A survey instrument was developed adapting Hall and Hord’s levels‐of‐use concept to show teachers’ behaviors associated with use of integration strategies in their practice. This survey was administered via the web to 100 course participants with a response of 44%. The results indicated that while teachers believed the integration strategies would increase student achievement, they were not routinely using them in their practice. The evaluators discuss potential reasons for this finding and make recommendations for improving the professional development program.

Over the past two decades, the pedagogical applications of corpus linguistics to language teaching have gained increased recognition. Consequently, there has been a growing interest in developing language teachers’ corpus literacy as a required knowledge base for the successful implementation of corpus-based pedagogy. Following this line of research, the current study reports on the impacts of a professional development (PD) course on six Iranian EFL teachers’ corpus literacy development. Data sources for the study included semi-structured interviews, reflective journals, and classroom observations. The findings revealed that despite some barriers for using corpora in the classroom, the PD was able to expand the teachers’ conceptual and pedagogical knowledge in relation to corpora and associated tools. Based on these findings, the study argues that for corpus-based pedagogy to become institutionalized, there is a need for embracing policies and practices that raise the awareness of teachers, teacher educators, and policymakers with respect to the affordances of corpora for informing language teaching.

Coach developers often design and deliver professional development (PD) courses for coaches that are research-based, personally tailored, and effectively taught in asynchronous online platforms. However, not all of these endeavours are successful in developing coaches. This is a confessional tale of what went wrong and why in an online PD course for adult fitness coaches, from our perspectives as the coach developers. What originally began as an action research project of a PD course on psychosocial aspects of coaching adult fitness athletes, our tale is crafted in five scenes with data from emails, reflexive diary entries, course content and analytics, and post-course interviews. We specifically examine (a) the startling consequences of content knowledge, (b) our misaligned expectations as trained and qualified CDs, (c) student-centred active learning strategies backfiring, (d) differing subjective experiences of the same online classroom, and (e) the unexplained lack of learner motivation.

The investigation of research trends in mathematics education in the global landscape has been prominent in the recent years. However, there is a dearth of literature in investigating research trends in mathematics education in the Philippine setting. Thus, this bibliometric analysis on the research in mathematics education in the Philippines from 2013 to 2023 was conducted. This paper aimed to present scientific information about the distribution pattern of research on mathematics education in terms of discipline, the profile of prominent authors, the key subject areas which given emphasis, and the direction of research. A total of 993 articles were obtained from the Scopus database and were analyzed using the VOSviewer software application to see the research trends in mathematics education in the Philippines. Research articles emerged as the predominant document type, followed by conference papers. The pinnacle of mathematics education research in the Philippines was in 2014. Notably, the research trend in the Philippines for the last five years have observable decrease in mathematics education. Results show that in terms of discipline, problem solving, teacher professional development, and curriculum were typically the key areas of emphasis. Moreover, the top author with the greatest number of citations since 2013-2023 is a female researcher from Mindanao. Furthermore, the mathematics subjects that have the most attention are algebra, proof, calculus, technology, geometry, and modeling. Finally, this paper foresees continued growth in mathematics education research in the Philippines, particularly in the realms of professional development and problem-solving.

Background: The Department of Correctional Services recognises the urgent need to improve access to rehabilitation programmes, to prepare for successful reintegration into society. Despite many correctional services policy documents stating that every child has a right to education, professional development courses have not been offered to educators of inmates. Objectives: Using Vygotsky’s and Bandura’s theories we explored the learning experiences of educators of inmates using innovative Reading-for-Meaning literacy pedagogical practices. Our objective was for the educators to challenge the inmates’ world views about solving problems, thereby attempting to reduce the recidivism rates in South Africa. Method: This study used an interpretive paradigm, a qualitative approach, and a case study design. Pre- and post-questionnaires were used to collect data from 58 educators of prisoners, of whom 44 educators completed the post-questionnaire. Results: The findings indicated that these educators learned from each other, were challenged to view problems from different perspectives, and developed critical thinking skills. These mind shifts motivated them to adapt the literacy strategies modelling the appropriate processes to suit the needs of the inmates. Conclusion: Professional development courses are imperative for all 21st-century educators working in prisons to improve their pedagogical content and knowledge abilities. These educators reflected on how their self-confidence and self-efficacy had developed after attending this short course. Contribution: If South African prison services are committed to reducing the recidivism rates in prisons, it is imperative to provide professional development courses to keep educators’ technical, pedagogical, and content knowledge current.