Events in learning mathematics: Insights from research in classrooms

In this paper, it is contended that in order to understand individual student's learning in the complexity of the mathematics classroom it is necessary to examine the events that occur before, during, and after learning. To illustrate, the process by which two children each construct new mathematical meanings is examined in this manner. The detailed analyses of each of these events provides insight into the processes by which individual students construct mathematical meanings in classroom settings. The investigation also reveals that the underlying social norms differ from those found in traditional classes, and that this creates different opportunities for learning. It is contended that it is the differences in the norms that have been established in their respective classes that distinguishes between the events in learning for the two children.Preparation of this paper was supported by the National Science Foundation (RED 9254939) and while the author was the Snodgrass Scholar in the School of Education Purdue University. The final draft was completed at the Mathematics Education Research Centre, Oxford University. All opinions are those of the author.     

Pilot study evaluating the impact of dialogic reading and shared reading at transition to primary school: early literacy skills and parental attitudes

Previous studies have demonstrated the positive impact of shared reading (SR) and dialogic reading (DR) on young children's language and literacy development. This exploratory study compared the relative impact of parental DR and shared reading interventions on 4‐year‐old children's early literacy skills and parental attitudes to reading prior to and following school entry. Parents were trained using a self‐instruction training DVD. The children's rhyme awareness, word reading, concepts about print and writing vocabulary were assessed before and after 6 weeks over the summer period and again after one term in school. Four illustrative case studies are presented, which reveal the differential impact of the interventions on the families who participated. Findings indicated that DR had a positive impact on children's enjoyment of reading, concepts about print, parent–child reading behaviours and parental attitudes to joint storybook reading. The children who experienced shared‐book reading during the intervention also demonstrated improvements in word reading. There were no changes in rhyme awareness or writing vocabulary for either group. Changes in print concept awareness were not maintained at follow‐up, but improvements in writing vocabulary and word reading scores were noted. The reasons for this are discussed with reference to the formal literacy instruction the children received during their first academic term.     

UNIVERSITY STUDENTS’ VIEWS OF THE ROLE OF MATHEMATICS IN THEIR FUTURE

We report on an international study about mathematics students’ ideas of how they will use mathematics in their future study and careers. This builds on our previous research into students’ conceptions of mathematics. In this paper, we use data from two groups of students studying mathematics: those who participated in an in-depth interview and those who completed an open-ended questionnaire. We found that their responses could be grouped into four categories: don’t know; procedural skills; conceptual skills; and professional skills. Although some students held clear ideas about the role of mathematics, many were not able to articulate how it would be used in their future. This has implications for their approach to learning and our approach to teaching.     

Students with emotional/behavioral disorders and transition planning: What the follow‐up studies tell us

This paper will examine the current literature and implications of follow‐up studies of students with emotional/behavioral disorders (EBD) focusing on the postschool outcomes of this population. The examination of the follow‐up studies gave a perspective of transition and postschool outcomes for youths with EBD. In our research, we found 22 follow‐up studies that examined the EBD population as a subset of a larger pool of youths with disabilities, yet found only eight studies that examined the EBD population exclusively. When compared to the multitude of studies done with other disability categories (e.g., learning disabled, mild or moderately retarded) the adult outcomes of youth with EBD have not been studied as extensively. This synthesis of the literature on follow‐up studies should act as a reference in the revision or updating of curriculum and programming for communities, school boards, educators, counselors, parents, and students. A general conclusion drawn by the literature reviewed was that students with EBD also have lower grades, more course failures, a higher grade retention, and a higher dropout rate than other disability groups and the general population. A re‐evaluation of school programs (e.g., general/special education curriculum) and policies (e.g., transition planning) must occur if these postschool outcomes for youths with EBD are to improve. © 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.     

Reflections on the value of autistic participation in a tri‐national teacher‐training project through discourses of acceptance,othering and power

The Transform Autism Education (TAE) project is a tri‐national teacher training scheme involving Greece, Italy and the UK, whose purpose is to set up training projects to facilitate the educational inclusion of autistic children. Running over three years from 2014 to 2017, the involvement of autistic participants has been the source of some discussion. Here, TAE team members Wood and Milton reflect on narratives of participation, acceptance and struggle which emerged during a workshop they ran in Greece. Derived from 11 non‐autistic and two autistic participants, and analysed via discourse analysis, these stories suggest a high value placed on autistic participation by non‐autistic TAE team members, but an unwitting tendency to ‘other’ autistic people and a lack of awareness of the power differential. Meanwhile, as the autistic team members describe how educational and social participation can be achieved, the implications for autism education researchers and practitioners are discussed.     

Untangling the Threads: Networks,community and teacher learning in the National Writing Project

From 1998 to 2000, we studied two sites of the National Writing Project to find out whether network learning ever finds its way into teachers' classrooms. In the process of observing the 5-week invitational institute (purported to be the key to understanding the National Writing Project), we found that teacher learning and becoming engaged in a professional community revealed a set of social practices. These practices provide the core of this important professional development program-- a core that is recreated in sites all over the country, organized in a network-like organizational form. This complex, layered national network, at its best, provides a model for teacher development involving teachers in a professional community situated in teachers' practice.