Relationships between mathematical knowledge for teaching and teaching practice: the case of proof

Teachers of mathematics orchestrate opportunities for interactions between learners and subject matter. Therefore, mathematics teachers need rich, multidimensional content knowledge for teaching mathematics, which incorporates knowledge of the subject matter, students, and teaching. Studying this mathematical knowledge for teaching (MKT) necessitates more than a unidirectional assessment. In this study, the mathematical knowledge for teaching reasoning and proving of two secondary mathematics teachers was investigated through classroom observations and clinical assessments. Results indicate that using MKT as a frame for examining classroom practice, in addition to assessing the MKT a teacher possesses in a clinical setting, provides an in-depth and innovative method for investigating MKT. The comparison of the two cases also identifies student positioning as a key mediating factor between MKT and opportunities to learn. Implications for using MKT as a lens for examining practice in teacher education are discussed.     

Paedagogica Historica: trendsetter or follower?

This article considers the role Paedagogica Historica has played in stimulating new approaches in the history of education within the international community since the emergence of the new series in 1900. Particular focus is placed on the volumes published in the wake of ISCHE (International Standing Conference in the History of Education) conferences and the special issues, which the editors began to promote in 1990 as a way of highlighting innovative scholarship in the field. The article considers a total of 55 issues. In addition to a presentation of the diversity of topics addressed, the article assesses the following: editorial strategies to reach a broader public and connect with specialised networks internationally; efforts to achieve international ranking for the journal; the ways individual scholars or national communities showcase certain approaches or themes in the history of education. Finally, the article will consider the limits to the journal’s efforts to establish trends in our contemporary digital age.     

The Status of Genetics Curriculum in Higher Education in the United States: Goals and Assessment

We review the state of genetics instruction in the United States through the lens of backward design, with particular attention to the goals and assessments that inform curricular practice. An analysis of syllabi and leading textbooks indicates that genetics instruction focuses most strongly on foundations of DNA and Mendelian genetics. At the same time, a survey of faculty indicates that other concepts, such as the application of genetics to society or the environment, are viewed as equally or even more important than foundation concepts. This disconnect suggests a need for more explicit goal setting prior to curriculum development. We also review the relationship between concept inventories, multiple-choice tests measuring conceptual understanding, and curricular goals. Existing concept inventories offer a strong foundation on which to build community-developed concept assessments of genetics knowledge. Concept assessments such as these would allow the genetics education community to test hypotheses of curricular change.     

Telecommunications

SILICON VALLEY FEVER: GROWTH OF HIGH-TECHNOLOGY CULTURE by Everett M. Rogers and Judith K. Larsen (New York: Basic Books, 1984---$19.95)

TECHNOSTRESS: THE HUMAN COST OF THE COMPUTER REVOLUTION by Craig Brod (Reading, Mass.: Addison-Wesley, 1984---$16.95)

THE NAKED COMPUTER: A LAYPERSON'S ALMANAC OF COMPUTER LORE, WIZARDRY, PERSONALITIES, MEMORABILIA, WORLD RECORDS, MIND BLOWERS AND TOMFOOLERY by Jack Rochester and John Gantz (New York: William Morrow, l983---$15.95)

TELEMATICS AND INFORMATICS edited by Indu B. Singh and Jay Liebowitz (Pergamon Press, Fairview Park, Elmsford, NY 10523----$95.00 institutions/$45.00 to individuals, quarterly)

MICROCOMPUTER COMMUNICATIONS: A WINDOW ON THE WORLD by Barbara E. McMullen and John F. McMullen (New York: John Wiley, 1983---$14.95, paper)     

Skunks in the Library: A Path to Production for Scholarly R&D

ABSTRACT

Library-based digital humanities “skunkworks” are semi-independent research-and-development labs staffed with librarians who act as scholar-practitioners. Their creation is an uncommon, yet uncommonly potent, organizational response to opportunities opened up by digital scholarship. This article describes the Scholars’ Lab at the University of Virginia Library and asserts a critical role for library-embedded digital centers in forging new paths for knowledge work in the humanities.     

Collaboration Between the University of Michigan Taubman Health Sciences Library and the University of Michigan Medical School Office of Research

Librarians have traditionally facilitated research development resulting in grants through performing biomedical literature searches for researchers. The librarians at the Taubman Health Sciences Library of the University of Michigan have taken additional steps forward by instituting a proactive approach to assisting investigators. To accomplish this, the librarians have taken part in a collaborative effort with the University of Michigan Medical School Office of Research. Through this partnership, both units have created and adopted various techniques intended to facilitate the submission of grants, thus allowing researchers more time to conduct their primary activities.     

Learning‐to‐learn and learning‐to‐teach: the impact of disciplinary subject study on student‐teachers’ professional identity

A coherent view of student‐teachers’ preparation and the learning experiences to which they are exposed are key to sustaining the relevance of university‐based teacher‐education programmes. Arguably, such coherence is lacking and the research base to an understanding of the student‐teacher experience is still a relatively limited one. This paper takes the view that student‐teachers’ epistemological growth is a key component of their professional development, their sense of identity as intending teachers, and their successful entry into a teaching career. In adopting a phenomenographic approach it explores a chain of evidence which demonstrates that immersion in the processes of learning and knowing, within a specific disciplinary context, had a significant impact on students’ emerging professional identities and on their values as teachers which extends beyond the subject matter itself. Arguably, the findings of this case‐study hold important implications for a teacher‐education programme and for effective pedagogic practice.     

Class instruction in voice

DRAMA IN LIFE: THE USES OF COMMUNICATION IN SOCIETY. Edited by James E. Combs and Michael W. Mansfield. Humanistic Studies in the Communication Arts. New York: Hastings House, Publishers, 1976; pp. xxx+444. $18.50; paper $10.50.

UTOPIA AND REVOLUTION: ON THE ORIGINS OF A METAPHOR, OR SOME ILLUSTRATIONS OF THE PROBLEM OF POLITICAL TEMPERAMENT AND INTELLECTUAL CLIMATE AND HOW IDEA, IDEALS, AND IDEOLOGIES HAVE BEEN HISTORICALLY RELATED. By Melvin J. Lasky. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1976; pp. xiii+726. $35.00.

COMMUNICATION YEARBOOK I. Edited by Brent D. Ruben. New Brunswick, New Jersey: Transaction Books, 1977; pp. xii+656. $24.95.

DECISION MAKING: A PSYCHOLOGICAL ANALYSIS OF CONFLICT, CHOICE, AND COMMITMENT. By Irving L. Janis and Leon Mann. New York: The Free Press, 1977; pp. xxii+488. $15.95.

RHETORIC AND PHILOSOPHY IN CONFLICT: AN HISTORICAL SURVEY. By Samuel Ijsseling. The Hague: Martinus Nijhoff, 1976; pp. 142. DG 35.

LORD NORTH. By Peter D. G. Thomas. London: Allen Lane, 1976; pp. viii+176, £6.00; New York: St. Martin's Press, $12.95.

THE IMPENDING CRISIS, 1848–1861. By David M. Potter. New York: Harper &; Row, 1976; pp. xv+638. $15.00.

SCHOOLMASTERS OF THE TENTH CENTURY. By Cora E. Lutz. Hamden, Connecticut: Archon Books, 1977; pp. xi+202. $1250.