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The challenge of reform : Impacting instructional practice
Journal article   Peer reviewed

The challenge of reform : Impacting instructional practice

Graham A Jones, Carol A Thornton, Gladis Kersaint, Daniel R Miller, Cynthia W Langrall, Jane O Swafford, Edward S Mooney, Cheryl A Hunt, William Leonard, John K Lannin, …
Journal of research and development in education, Vol.34(1), pp.70-85
2000

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Abstract

This study reports on the impact of Project PUMP, a 3-year professional enhancement program that involved 43 middle and high school teachers in a mid-size urban city with a high minority student population. More precisely, the research examined changes in teachers' classroom practice that resulted from enhanced teacher knowledge, collaboration, and support systems. Analysis of classroom and belief data revealed that the Project had a greater impact on the classroom environments teachers created than on what mathematics was taught and on how it was actually learned. That is, there was a marked increase in the extent to which teachers utilized student discourse and student collaboration in mathematical activities. However, there was less evidence of change in the extent to which teachers engaged students in worthwhile mathematical tasks, mathematical sense-making and higher levels of algebraic thinking. The latter finding is somewhat in contrast with findings from an earlier study by the same authors (Swafford et al., 1999) but is consistent with other studies that have noted the challenge of moving classroom practice from teacher-transmitted instruction to student-as-meaning-maker (e.g., Keedy et al., 1998).
 Curriculum subjects: programmes and methods Educational sciences Exact and natural sciences Teaching methods

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