Much has been written about the importance of reflective practice. What is missing is reflective work on the part of teacher educators to address the mismatch between university-based methods courses and the realities of classroom life. With examples from a third grade mathematics classroom as well as a university-based mathematics methods course,…

This report describes the first year of an ongoing intervention study and the learning of a group of practicing teachers working together with researchers to make changes in the ways they teach mathematics. When reflecting on their beginning efforts, the researchers found that several assumptions in their planned interventions were not borne out…

As college students in a literacy foundation course became pen pals with third graders, individual voices from each group were heard and, on both ends, it was a meaningful, authentic learning experience. The college students from a homogeneous environment were able to communicate with a diverse population of children. The children shared book…

This report describes the first year of an ongoing intervention study and the learning of a group of teachers who are working together to make changes in the ways they teach mathematics. The document presents a vision of mathematics education based on research in cognitive psychology which indicates that learners construct knowledge rather than…

A case study approach was used to explore the relationship between subject matter knowledge and the acquisition of pedagogical content knowledge in the preparation of preservice elementary mathematics teachers. A preservice elementary teacher was interviewed prior to her mathematics methods course to ascertain her subject matter background and…