MSCS Seminar Calendar
Wednesday May 7, 2008
Mathematics Education SeminarMathematics teacher education that makes a difference to student learning.
Kaye Stacey (University of Melbourne, Australia)
4:00 PM in SEO 636
In this talk, I will reflect on mathematics teacher education for
secondary and elementary schools, drawing on my experience in leading
programs for both pre-service and in-service education. The talk also
draws on a major literature review which I recently completed for the
forthcoming Handbook of Mathematics Teacher Education from Sense
Publications. I will discuss four components of mathematics for
teaching: knowledge of the content of mathematics; experience of doing
mathematics; knowledge about mathematics as a discipline; and knowing
how to learn mathematics. Teachers also need pedagogical content
knowledge, a special blend of knowledge of mathematics and pedagogy that
is uniquely required by the teaching task. Research generally shows only
weak links between university studies of mathematics and effectiveness
as a teacher, so the challenge is to provide teacher education which
really makes a difference to student learning. These ideas will be
discussed with regard to current circumstances in Australia, when
qualified mathematics teachers are in short supply (as in many Western
countries) and when school systems are increasing emphasis on improving
student outcomes.









