Workshop

Teaching Teachers Mathematics: Research, Ideas, Projects, Evaluation (PDF 15.27MB) Teaching Teachers Mathematics, a 3-day workshop scheduled for May 30 June 1, 2007, will be the fourth in a series of workshops sponsored by the Mathematical Sciences Research Institute (MSRI) in Berkeley, CA. Previous workshops have addressed issues related to assessment, the mathematical knowledge needed for teaching, and equity. Building on the issues investigated in these previous workshops, this workshop will focus concretely on courses, programs and materials that aim to increase teachers' mathematical knowledge for teaching. Both courses and programs that lead to initial certification and professional development of current teachers will be examined at the workshop. In addition, the workshop will examine efforts by colleges, universities, school districts, professional organizations and funding agencies to support people who teach these courses or lead these workshops. These questions guide the workshop design: How can courses and programs for teachers be designed and structured so as to increase teachers’ mathematical knowledge for teaching? What are the features, strengths, and drawbacks of different approaches? What materials exist for use in teaching teachers mathematics? What are their features? What is known about their usability and effectiveness? Who teaches teachers mathematics and how is their work supported? What can we learn about the factors that enhance the teaching of mathematics for teachers? The audience for the workshop includes mathematicians, mathematics educators, classroom teachers and education researchers who are concerned with improving teachers’ opportunities to gain the mathematical knowledge needed for teaching. The workshop will showcase courses, programs and curriculum materials whose goal is to increase teachers’ knowledge of mathematics and examine how the mathematical education of teachers relates to the many other aspects of teachers’ professional training and education. Collected presentation materials from workshop - download (50MB zip file) These collected presentation materials are posted here temporaily until the lecture videos have been encoded and made available for download. Download Schedule with Abstracts (pdf file) MSRI and the workshop organizers are especially interested in encouraging mathematicians to participate in this workshop, as mathematics departments often have primary responsibility for offering mathematics courses aimed at developing teachers’ mathematical knowledge---yet mathematicians are among the most vocal critics of teachers’ knowledge of mathematics. This workshop offers the opportunity to learn more about programs that are successful at teaching teachers mathematics. Sponsored by: