Tools and Settings Supporting Mathematics Teachers’ Learning in and from Practice

A Professional Experience Learning Community for Pre-service Secondary Mathematics Teachers

“…If managed well, diversity can be advantageous for learning communities because it can lead to more fruitful sharing of different viewpoints, experiences and expertise which can produce deeper and more sustained learning. However, diversity also presents challenges for learning communities, such as finding a common language and adjusting to ways of working with others (Ponte et al, 2009). …”

“…It provided them with a chance to learn and work together in trying new teaching strategies in an environment with sufficient structure to scaffold their learning and cooperation. The research questions for the present study focus on the second and third issues identified by Ponte et al (2009), namely: What kinds of knowledge about practice did the pre-service teachers develop through their participation in this professional experience learning community? What features of the learning community facilitated the development of this knowledge?…”

Multiple-solution tasks: from a teacher education course to teacher practice

“…Professional development frameworks for teachers are directed toward supporting the development of teachers' expertise. Changing teachers' beliefs, advancing their knowledge and skills, increasing their self-confidence and developing more professional perspectives among practicing teachers for coping with challenges incorporated in their practice are among the central aims of teacher educational programs (Sullivan & Wood, 2008;Even & Ball, 2009;Kreiner, 2008;Da Ponte et al, 2009).…”

“…Teacher educators are continuously searching for tools that are effective in mathematics teachers' professional development (Tirosh & Wood, 2008;Da Ponte et al, 2009). Careful choice of mathematical tasks for teachers is one of the major goals of teacher educators (Krainer, 1993;Zaslavsky et al, 2003).…”

“…The earlier completed parts of the study provide some explanations for the gap between theory-oriented recommendations related to MSTs and teachers' practice (Leikin & Levav-Waynberg, 2007) and analyze the development of teachers' knowledge and beliefs in systematic (through learning) and craft (through teaching) modes (Leikin & Levav-Waynberg, 2008, 2009.…”