Abstract
Bridging curriculum design (theory) and classroom implementation (practice) is a critical issue in tertiary mathematics education. In the Inquiry-Oriented Linear Algebra project, we introduce the Design-Based Research (DBR) spiral as a mechanism to bridge theory and practice. In this chapter, we elaborate our project’s DBR spiral informed by Realistic Mathematics Education (RME) instructional design heuristics. The phases of a Design-Based Research spiral are: Design, Paired Teaching Experiment, Classroom Teaching Experiment, Online Working Group, and Web. We explicate these phases to offer insight into the process of conceptualizing and developing an RME instructional sequence focused on determinants. The Online Working Group phase involves work with instructors who were not part of the research project team. This importantly allows us to explicitly connect to research on instructional change as part of our instructional design process. Drawing on data from these instructors’ work with the determinants unit, we gain valuable insights into the ways in which differences in instructors’ instructional contexts and orientation toward mathematical goals can constrain and afford particular kinds of instructional commitments.
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Notes
- 1.
Inquiry-Oriented Differential Equations (Rasmussen et al., 2018) and Inquiry-Oriented Abstract Algebra (Larsen et al., 2013) serve as the foundational research programs for the IOI movement at the university level within the United States. In addition to IOLA, other IOI-aligned design work exists within other content areas, such as combinatorics (Lockwood & Purdy, 2019), calculus (Oehrtman et al., 2014), ring theory (Cook, 2014), and mathematical logic (Dawkins & Cook, 2017).
- 2.
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This material is based upon work supported by the United States National Science Foundation under Grant Numbers DUE-1915156, 1914841, 1914793. Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation.
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Wawro, M., Andrews-Larson, C., Zandieh, M., Plaxco, D. (2022). Inquiry-Oriented Linear Algebra: Connecting Design-Based Research and Instructional Change Research in Curriculum Design. In: Biehler, R., Liebendörfer, M., Gueudet, G., Rasmussen, C., Winsløw, C. (eds) Practice-Oriented Research in Tertiary Mathematics Education. Advances in Mathematics Education. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-14175-1_16
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