How Teachers Use Mathematics Curriculum Materials in Planning and Implementing Mathematics Lessons

초록

The purpose of this study is to investigate how elementary mathematics teachers use and implement a reform-oriented mathematics curriculum material, Everyday Mathematics, and to examine what features the curriculum material has. Eight elementary mathematics teachers in the United States participated in the study. Data sources consist of teacher classroom observation write-ups, interviews, and the curriculum material. The results from the analysis of the curriculum material suggest that 80 percent of the tasks are at the high-level in terms of cognitive demand and 26 percent of tasks are identified as transparent. The results also show that the teachers appeared to adapt the curriculum material and partially take suggestions or activities out of the curriculum material in enacting them in their mathematics classrooms. The analysis of enacted tasks suggests that the levels of cognitive demand were shifted from high-level to low-level; 27 percent of the high-level tasks in the curriculum material were maintained at the high-level as enacted in the mathematics classrooms. The level of cognitive demand shifted in many cases; shifts from high-level to low-level occurred. This contributes to the curriculum material not being transparent to teachers.

키워드