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IDM-supported and web-based video cases to develop professional learning communities for teachers in mathematics problem solving in Singapore
Citation
Paper presented at the 4th Redesigning Pedagogy International Conference, Singapore, 30 May to 1 June 2011
Abstract
Situated learning perspective and the principal of authenticity has guided design of the video cases which were derived from authentic problems of a classroom teacher and his unit of lessons (see more detail in the abstract of the second paper). Informed by literature on mathematics problem solving (such as Stacey & MacGregor, 1999) and the model method (such as Ng & Lee, 2009), three video cases were developed to highlight the following pedagogical themes: 1)
understanding the case teacher's rationale and approaches to bridging; 2) understanding the cognitive challenges in bridging; and 3) understanding students' feedback and initial Algebra learning outcome. Interviews with the case teacher provided a first-person narration of his rationale for planning, teaching and assessing
student learning. To support teachers’ viewing and reflection, scaffolds (prompts) were designed in the form of viewing questions to stimulate critical analysis of a case lesson on the content, instructional goals and facilitation of student understanding. In the mean time, we anchored teacher learning in the Macrocontexts of video-based problem solving for repeated viewing and responses to questions in the personal blogs called, My Workplace, which is merged together with an online Discussion Forum to generate multiple perspectives (Cognition & Technology Group at Vanderbilt, 1993). Our Microcontext includes identifying ‘critical incidents’ according to what they think as important, difficult, and hinge points in a case lesson (Paine, Fang & Wilson, 2003) and discussion supported by e-facilitation in the Forum platform (Wang, 2008). Building of the Online PLC was piloted in the case teacher’s school for almost a year (Feb – Nov 2010), which started from a group of mathematics teacher leaders and later extended to 70 English-medium teachers of the school (see more detail in the abstract of the third paper). The teachers’ feedback in piloting stage has informed several rounds of iterative design and
continuous improvements of the design and use (Stephens & Hartman, 2004). Research is going on to draw out implications for scaling up the use in diverse school contexts and learning platforms (such as lesson study)
Date Issued
2011