Building A Collaborative Mathematics Education
Community
Bridget
Arvold
University
of Illinois at Urbana/Champaign
The gulfs between the worlds of
educators, especially mathematics professors, mathematics education professors,
and K-12 mathematics teachers, have been acknowledged for many years and
sincere efforts have been made to bridge the gulfs yet most remain. Although
the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics promotes communication, collaborative
efforts are often limited to relatively small audiences and are often temporary
in nature. Noddings
(1992) noted collegiality as necessary to the mathematics education profession
yet most reviews of the research literature, including hers, have been limited
to discussion of mathematics teachers as individuals rather than as a community
of life-long learners. Recent research such as that of Gutierrez (1996) does
provide insights into school mathematics departments but few studies include a
wider audience of participants. Fullan (1999) points out that “contrary to
myth, effective collaborative cultures are not based on like-minded consensus.
They value diversity because that is how they get different perspectives and
access to ideas to address complex problems. This presentation is based upon
the assumption that collaboration is a celebration of commonalties and
differences and that a concerted effort on the part of all participants will
promote a healthy mathematics education community.
The research took place
within a partnership based upon the premise that the creation of a sustainable
learning community with a core of mathematics professors, mathematics education
professors, and K-12 mathematics teachers will greatly benefit not only the
educators but also their students and the community at-large. The research
during the first year of the study addressed the successful and unsuccessful
attempts at creating and sustaining a collaborative community. The participants
in the research were two educators from each of the areas mentioned above and
three graduate students. All participants agreed to replace hierarchical
structures and positions of authority with collaborative efforts that supported
both common and individual goals. Mathematical investigations and activities
that centered on learning how to use communication and mathematics learning
technologies for professional development and classroom instruction, became a
central theme for building trusting relationships that supported collaboration.
Our work promotes the exchange of scientific information by inviting
interdisciplinary perspectives that deepen our understanding of what it means
to teach and learn mathematics.
References
Fullan, M. (1999). Change forces: The sequel. Philadelphia: Falmer Press.
Gutierrez, R. (1996).
Practices, beliefs, and cultures of high school mathematics departments:
Understanding their influence on student advancement. Journal of Curriculum Studies, 28(5), 495-529
Noddings, N. (1992).
Professionalization and mathematics teaching. In D. Grouws (Ed.), Handbook of research on mathematics teaching
and learning (pp.197-208). New
York: Macmillan.