| Edited by Diane McGrath, Kansas State University |
formerly Journal of Research on Computing in
Education
Challenges for Teachers
Attempting to Integrate a Mathematics
Innovation
Julie Jacobs Henry
Fredonia State University
Douglas H. Clements
State University of New York at
Buffalo
Abstract
When teachers decide to use innovative materials
in their
classrooms, several questions arise. The
fourth-grade teachers
in this study answered these questions in
different ways
that greatly affected the success of the
innovation. Data
were collected through audiotaped semistructured
interviews,
teacher journals, and field notes. The data were
analyzed
using a social constructivist framework to
determine how
these teachers constructed a rationale for their
use of
the innovation. One teacher was able to foster
mathematical
constructions, relinquish control over the
classroom and
the curriculum, and feel validated in these
processes by
parents, administrators, students, and colleagues.
Educators
and researchers are encouraged to help teachers
refine methods
and establish links between their beliefs and
effective
innovation.
Contributors
Julie Henry is an assistant professor in the
School of
Education at the State University of New York
College at
Fredonia. Her research interests center on teacher
beliefs,
educational change, and early childhood education.
Douglas
H. Clements is a professor of mathematics and
computer education
at the State University of New York at Buffalo.
His research
involves the learning and teaching of geometry,
computer
applications in mathematics education, the early
development
of mathematical ideas, and the effects of social
interactions
on learning. (Address: Julie Henry, State
University of
New York College at Fredonia, Thompson Hall,
Fredonia, NY
14063; henry@ait.fredonia.edu.)
A PDF file of the full article is available.
Contact: jrte@iste.org. Please
specifiy Volume and Issue number and article name.
Copyright ©
1998, ISTE (International
Society for Technology in Education).
All rights reserved.
| teaching methods of technology innovation |
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