Dear all,
When I responded to Shandy's email last week, I forgot to mention one
thing re: point (a) ("among the significant differences between IMAP
and the proposed cases are: (a) the video-case tools and accompanying
text will be developed for an audience with a mastery of mathematics
who have little or no formal training in pedagogy").
In K-12 math ed, people are starting to look at "mathematical
knowledge for teaching" / "teachers' mathematics" -- a kind of
mathematical knowledge that math teachers need and that other users
of mathematics are unlikely to need. An example from secondary math /
college algebra is an understanding of the different ways that equals
signs get used (e.g., in equations to be solved, in defining
functions, in other definitions -- whether they be properties like
transitivity or the conditions under which we say that two real
numbers are equal, in theorems, in arithmetic "sentences"). I know of
two research groups looking at this (one at Michigan State and the
University of Maryland, focusing on school algebra, and one at the
University of Michigan, focusing on some subset of the math taught in
elementary school); there may be others. A textbook addressing this
at the secondary level also came out a couple of years ago:
_Mathematics for high school teachers: An advanced perspective_
(Usiskin, Peressini, Marchisotto, and Stanley, 2003).
My reason for mentioning all of this: although most math grad
students have a deeper mathematical knowledge than most secondary
math teachers, the construct of mathematical knowledge for teaching
is likely relevant at the college level as well, in which case TA's
(and math faculty) will need to develop some additional mathematical
knowledge -- knowledge that is not likely develop in their work as
researchers -- and not just pedagogical knowledge.
Dara
P.S. Since I'm new to two of the lists I'm posting this to and new
members have been asked to introduce themselves: I'm a doctoral
student in math ed at Michigan State, in the Teacher Education Dept.
Prior to starting my doctoral studies, I taught high school math for
a few years in the US and in the Central African Republic (in the
Peace Corps) and worked on a variety of K-18 math ed projects for
several years at UC Berkelely and UT Austin, mostly with the Dana
Center for Mathematics and Science Education. My interest in the
teaching preparation of math grad students is part of a broader
interest in math teacher education; my experiences as a TA in the
Math Dept. at UC Berkeley and training TA's working with the Emerging
Scholars Program at UT Austin enter in as well. My dissertation work
explores the reasoning of a non-random sample of calculus teachers
re: the design of their calculus courses (e.g., what alternatives
people know of, which alternatives people prefer and why, and what
the process of (calculus) course conceptualizing involves for these
people). While at MSU, I've worked with the secondary math teacher
preparation program, as well as with secondary math teacher
professional development and research projects.
At 8:01 AM -0700 1/31/05, S. Hauk wrote:
Hi,
I am working on a grant proposal aimed at improving college
mathematics teaching and learning through the creation of video-case
tools for teacher-scholar development of mathematics Graduate
Teaching Assistants and new faculty, and for enhancing the
professional development of junior and senior faculty. The project
creates a tool similar to the Integrating Mathematics and Pedagogy
(IMAP) Project K-12 materials for teachers. However, among the
significant differences between IMAP and the proposed cases are: (a)
the video-case tools and accompanying text will be developed for an
audience with a mastery of mathematics who have little or no formal
training in pedagogy; (b) the case tools will be sufficiently
self-contained that they can be used as part of a distance-learning
course on college teaching; (c) the materials will include classroom
video-clips as well as materials about out-of-classroom interactions
like office hours, email communication, advising of undergraduate
and graduate students, and communicating with junior and senior
colleagues about teaching.
Some field-test agreements are already in place as is an
initial publication agreement with the CBMS and the AMS (who
published Friedberg et alia's (2001) fictionalized case studies for
college teaching book).
I am looking for folks who are interested in field testing
materials, perhaps even testing a case or two on a prototype DVD in
Fall 2005 (also for anyone interested in becoming more significantly
involved in the project). Please contact me directly at hauk(a)unco.edu
Thanks,
Shandy
PS I also posted this message to the listserv hosted by Tim Gutmann
on research and practice about TA and new faculty development:
ta-research(a)list.une.edu (subscribe through
http://list.une.edu/mailman/listinfo/ta-research )
and to Derek Buff's new listserv: pstum-list(a)lists.fas.harvard.edu
(subscribe through
http://lists.fas.harvard.edu/mailman/listinfo/pstum-list )
====================================
Shandy Hauk, hauk(a)unco.edu
Department of Mathematics, CB122
U. of Northern Colorado
Greeley, CO 80639
Phone: 970 351 2344 Fax: 970 351 1225
=====================================
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