"The book introduces a background to the phenomena so blatantly disregarded in the reform movements on mathematics education: the consideration of what is knowledge … I find chapter 3 a very important contribution, and one which should be recommended to all teacher educators … A great contribution to the mathematics teacher education scholarship."
Teaching Innovations
This book responds to the growing interest in the scholarship of mathematics teaching; over the last 20 years the importance of teachers' knowledge for effective teaching has been internationally recognised. For many mathematics teachers, the critical link between practice and knowledge is implied rather than explicitly understood or expressed. This means it can be difficult to assess and thus develop teachers' professional knowledge. The present book is based on two studies investigating exactly how teachers developed their pedagogical knowledge in mathematics from different sources. It describes:
- how teachers' own teaching experience and reflection, and their daily exchanges with colleagues, are the most important sources of knowledge,
- how important in-service training and organized professional activities are,
- how teachers' previous experiences as students, their pre-service training and their reading of professional literature have less influence on their professional knowledge.
The findings in this book have significant implications for teachers, teacher educators, school administrators and educational researchers, as well as policy-makers and school practitioners worldwide.
Sample Chapter(s)
Focusing on the Growth of Teachers' Knowledge: An Introduction (42 KB)
Chapter 1: Introduction (45 KB)
Contents:
- The Chicago Study:
- Introduction
- Review of the Literature
- A Conceptual Framework of the Study
- Research Design and Procedures
- Findings of the Chicago Study (I): Pedagogical Curricular Knowledge
- Findings of the Chicago Study (II): Pedagogical Content Knowledge
- Findings of the Chicago Study (III): Pedagogical Instructional Knowledge
- Findings of the Chicago Study (IV): Some Other Issues
- Conclusions, Implications, and Recommendations
- The Singapore Study:
- The Singapore Study
- Comparison and Conclusion
Readership: Teachers, teacher educators, school administrators, educational policy-makers and non-experts interested in education issues.
“Given the reforms in mathematics education, the issue of how teachers develop their knowledge has become a big challenge for practitioners as well as for researchers. While many people believe that teachers teach as they were taught, Prof Fan shows that the phenomenon is much more complex. This book is an important source for students, teachers, teacher educators, school administrators, and policy-makers.”
Prof. Zemira Mevarech
Dean of Faculty of Social Sciences, Bar-Ilan University and
Former Chief Scientist of the Ministry of Education, Israel
"The findings in this book have significant implications for teachers, teacher educators, school administrators and educational researchers, as well as policy-makers and school practitioners worldwide."
WorldCat
"The book introduces a background to the phenomena so blatantly disregarded in the reform movements on mathematics education: the consideration of what is knowledge … I find chapter 3 a very important contribution, and one which should be recommended to all teacher educators … A great contribution to the mathematics teacher education scholarship."
Teaching Innovations
Prof Lianghuo Fan is Personal Chair in Education at the University of Southampton. He has been a mathematics teacher since 1981 and lectured for ten years in a teacher's college in China; he is Editor-in-Chief of two series of mathematics textbooks in Singapore and China.