Improving Mathematics Teachers’ Technology, Mathematics
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Transcript Improving Mathematics Teachers’ Technology, Mathematics
The Effects of collaborative
professional environment for
mathematics teaching
Zhaoyun Wang Douglas McDougall
University of Toronto
Introduction
Teacher
efficacy is highly correlated to
student achievement.
Mathematics teachers’ knowledge
includes subject matter knowledge,
pedagogical content knowledge and
knowledge of students.
Collaborative Inquiry is a effective
strategy for professional development.
Background
Cross-national
studies show that many
elementary school mathematics teachers need to
upgrade their knowledge.
TIMSS (2011) and PISA(2009) studies identified
student misconceptions of Canadian students.
Many middle school teachers encounter
challenges in teaching mathematics.
Technology can assist in collaboration of
teaching and learning.
Research Questions
1. How
did middle school teachers
improve mathematics knowledge in a
collaborative professional
environment?
2. What pedagogical content knowledge
was changed in collaborative
environment?
3. How to best assist elementary school
teachers to collaboration by use of
technology?
Theoretical Framework
Educational
“field has acknowledged a need for
more empirically valid methods of studying
professional development” (Desimone, 2009, p.
181).
Teaching is a complex activity and life long
career.
Professional development should emphasize
collaborative professional learning (Wei, et al.
2009).
Collective collaboration is an effective way to
improve teachers’ professional knowledge.
Program Design
Ten
Dimensions of Mathematics Education
(McDougall, 2004) conceptual framework.
Participants: 31 eighth grade mathematics
teachers and 8 principals. They were from 8
elementary school in an urban school
district.
Each participant school selected a couple of
dimensions as a focus for school
improvement, and the goals of teachers
aligned with the school goals.
Research Method
Mixed
quantitative and qualitative research.
Data collection: interviews with teachers and
administrators and survey
Data coding: Excel and SPSS, Nvivo 10
Data Analysis:
1. quantitative---Descriptive statistics and
paired t-test, Excel and SPSS
2. qualitative --- rubric, classified
qualitative data into categories and
subcategories
Findings—Quantitative Results
Six
out of 20 items had significant
changes, which were closed related to
selected dimensions.
Six out of 20 items had moderate
improvement.
Some items did not have significant
changes because they were not focused on.
Findings--Qualitative results
Participants
expressed that they had
improvements in their pedagogical content
knowledge and their use of technology.
Teachers adopted technology for
communication with each other (emails,
blogs), and for the exchange of
information through a Wiki.
Teachers upgraded mathematics
knowledge.
Discussion and Implication
Quantitative
results and qualitative findings
were consistent with each other.
Collaborative environment can enhance
teachers' passion to improve math and PCK.
Teachers and schools selected the foci to
match their learning needs.
Resources, strategies, monitoring and
assessment.
Conclusion
Factors for success
Continued challenges
Future Research
Thank You!
Questions?
Emails: [email protected]
[email protected]