Abstract
In this chapter I describe a model for the professional development of practicing secondary and adult education mathematics teachers. In particular, I describe specific tasks that challenge their existing beliefs and practices. These tasks mirror the kinds of task we expect teachers to use with students; they expose existing ways of thinking, produce tension and discussion by observing contrasting practices, and learning is accommodated by reflecting on practical classroom experiences.
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Notes
- 1.
In passing, we note that research evidence suggests that the connectionist orientation is the most effective for conceptual learning, while the discovery orientation is the least effective (Askew et al. 1997)
- 2.
After one extensive professional development program, observations of teachers showed that many succeeded in effectively using ‘higher order questions’ and ‘cooperative small group work’ but still had great difficulty in ‘building on what students already know’ and in ‘exposing and discussing common misconceptions’ (Swain and Swan 2007).
- 3.
It may be noted that there are close similarities between the local four-step procedure being adopted for each task-type and the global four-stage structure outlined for the series of professional development workshops outlined in the introduction. Both are seeking to generate surprise and ‘conflict’ by confronting current practices and expectations with novel practices and research evidence.
- 4.
Further examples, including videos and lesson plans may be found in DfES (2005) (see: http://www.nationalstemcentre.org.uk/elibrary/collection/282/improving-learning-in-mathematics) and in Swan (2006a).
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Swan, M. (2011). Designing Tasks that Challenge Values, Beliefs and Practices: A Model for the Professional Development of Practicing Teachers. In: Zaslavsky, O., Sullivan, P. (eds) Constructing Knowledge for Teaching Secondary Mathematics. Mathematics Teacher Education, vol 6. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-0-387-09812-8_4
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