Impact of a content and methods course sequence on prospective secondary mathematics teachers’ beliefs

In this article, we report on a study of beliefs about mathematics, teaching, and proof conducted with six prospective secondary mathematics teachers as they completed a two-semester sequence of a content course and a methods course. The initial beliefs of the participants were identified using interview and survey data, and potential shifts in beliefs were examined through further interview and survey data combined with classroom observations and written work. While their beliefs about mathematics and proof appeared to be relatively stable, their beliefs about teaching shifted from a more teacher-centered view to beliefs that foreground the activities and understandings of the students. These shifts are analyzed using the construct of belief structures, and activities and events from the courses that may have facilitated the shifts are identified. The results are consistent with the literature in some respects, such as the stability of the participants’ beliefs about mathematics. On the other hand, our results present new information about how prospective secondary mathematics teachers’ beliefs about teaching may be impacted.     

EXAMINING TEACHERS�� STRUGGLES AS THEY ATTEMPT TO IMPLEMENT DIALOGICAL INTERACTION AS PART OF PROMOTING MATHEMATICAL REASONING WITHIN THEIR CLASSROOMS

This study examines the changes in teaching practices during the implementation of a pedagogical model called the mathematics reasoning approach (MRA), which was founded on 2 critical areas in mathematics, problem solving, and writing to learn. Three algebra teachers implemented the approach with their classes, which were divided into control (traditional) and treatment (student-centered approach) groups, with their levels of implementation measured by the Reformed Teaching Observation Protocol (RTOP) instrument. The implementation of the model resulted in positive changes in teachers’ pedagogical practices and yet showed the struggles they faced. In the control classes (traditional classes), the level of teaching remained the same throughout the study, whereas in the treatment classes (MRA classes), a significant improvement in the level of teaching was observed. Even though the teachers’ implementation levels differed from each other, the patterns of the change for all 3 teachers showed similarities; that is, their MRA teaching level was initially equivalent to their control teaching, but as the semester progress, there was a separation between the 2 approaches. This separation between the 2 approaches appeared to be dependent upon the pedagogical area on which the teacher put emphasis. The skill of questioning seemed to be 1 which each teacher first changed.     

Pedagogical Considerations for Examining Rater Variability in Rater‐Mediated Assessments: A Three‐Model Framework

Rater‐mediated assessments are a common methodology for measuring persons, investigating rater behavior, and/or defining latent constructs. The purpose of this article is to provide a pedagogical framework for examining rater variability in the context of rater‐mediated assessments using three distinct models. The first model is the observation model, which includes ecological/environmental considerations for the evaluation system. The second model is the measurement model, which includes the transformation of observed, rater response data to linear measures using a measurement model with specific requirements of rater‐invariant measurement in order to examine raters’ construct‐relevant variability stemming from the evaluative system. The third model is the interaction model, which includes an interaction parameter to allow for the investigation into raters’ systematic, construct‐irrelevant variability stemming from the evaluative system. Implications for measurement outcomes and validity are discussed.     

(Residual) Public Music Radio in the Streaming Era: Listening for Diversity and Frequency on CBC Music

The aim of this article is to assess whether and how the CBC’s music radio programming reflects the corporation’s mandate of showcasing a diversity of music and culture. I argue that a program logic that privileges an international corporate music industry strategy persists (particularly during the peak morning and afternoon drive time programs) and limits the capacity for public radio to imagine and project alternative musical trajectories. My aspiration is to imagine CBC Music’s over-the-air radio as a residual broadcast service, one that presents novel opportunities at a time when digital and online streaming music is dominant.     

Marital conflict and conduct problems in Children of Twins

The Children-of-Twins design was used to test whether associations between marital conflict frequency and conduct problems can be replicated within the children of discordant twin pairs. A sample of 2,051 children (age 14-39 years) of 1,045 twins was used to estimate the genetic and environmental influences on marital conflict and determine whether genetic or environmental selection processes underlie the observed association between marital conflict and conduct problems. Results indicate that genetic and nonshared environmental factors influence the risk of marital conflict. Furthermore, genetic influences mediated the association between marital conflict frequency and conduct problems. These results highlight the need for quasiexperimental designs in investigations of intergenerational associations.     

Patriotism,Pressure, and Place: Civic Agency in Base Country

This article focuses on how civic agency is taught or not taught by a social studies teacher to the children of soldiers in a largely conservative community and, as a result, how it was learned or not learned. Taken from a larger study investigating individual teacher curricular and pedagogic choice around teaching war near a military base, this article examines the sociopolitical, district-level, student, parent, and community pressures and tensions of teaching war in this context and what impact these pressures have on teaching choice and student sense of civic agency. Findings suggest that the teacher, mostly yielding to the pressure and stress, avoids complexity of perceived dangerous content, which left most students with an unchallenged sense of traditional patriotism and duty.     

When Diversity Training Goes Wrong: A Case Study Analysis of the University of Delaware Residential Education Program

In an increasingly global and interconnected world, it is necessary for corporations and educational systems to develop mechanisms for community members to enhance multicultural competencies related to diversity including race, ethnicity, gender and gender identity, sexual orientation, age, religion, and the like. Some people internalize anger, fear, contempt, and guilt about these issues. As a result, people express their feelings in unhealthy and unproductive ways in school and in the workplace. The solution often is to provide diversity training or sensitivity training. This case study analysis utilizes Kaufman's systemic thinking model to examine what went wrong when one university attempted to implement a yearlong intensive diversity training program that brought national media attention and a potential lawsuit against the university, ultimately resulting in a dramatic shift in the university's out‐of‐classroom experiential learning policies.