Deepening Mathematics Understanding of Middle School Teachers
This study included middle grades teachers participating in the first of a series of summer mathematics content courses offered as part of the Greater Birmingham Mathematics Partnership (GBMP). This study focused on the impact of the content courses for in-service teachers.
Recent research suggests that one of the reasons for students' poor performance in mathematics in middle school is the result of teachers' poor preparation in mathematics content. The 2007 Mathematics Teaching in the 21st Century report by the Center for Research in Mathematics and Science Education at Michigan State University studied preparation programs in the U.S., Taiwan, South Korea, Bulgaria, Germany and Mexico. The results of the study suggest that teacher preparation institutions in the United States focus more on pedagogy than on mathematical knowledge in preparing teachers to teach middle school mathematics.
The GBMP focuses on improving pre-service and inservice teachers' content knowledge in mathematics. This study centered on the first GBMP teacher course, Patterns, Functions, and Algebraic Reasoning, developed by the Mathematics Education Collaborative. The course was an intensive nine-day summer mathematics content course (58.5 contact hours). It was part of an innovative approach to professional development in mathematics education in which teachers were offered opportunities to struggle with complex, rich, and expandable mathematical tasks. Collections of tasks were chosen to help participants develop a deep understanding of some of the fundamental ideas in mathematics and build confidence in mathematical problem-solving. During the course, teachers were engaged in inquiry-based mathematics investigations in both group and individual settings. A variety of manipulatives (color tiles, pattern blocks, interlocking cubes, Cuisenaire rods) were available to aid visualization of patterns. The instruction in the course was designed to further teachers' conceptual understanding, procedural fluency, and strategic competence in mathematics while modeling the pedagogy touted to be effective at leading to mathematical understanding in students.
