Date of Award

4-2014

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy

Department

Mathematics

First Advisor

Dr. Ok-Kyeong Kim

Second Advisor

Dr. Laura R. Van Zoest

Third Advisor

Dr. Kate Kline

Fourth Advisor

Dr. Janine T. Remillard

Keywords

Curricular resources, relationship, assessment, mathematical point, conjunction, student thinkning

Abstract

This study investigated how teachers used curricular resources to teach mathematics with two different curriculum programs, a commercially developed program (Scott Foresman Addison Wesley-Mathematics) and an NSF-funded reform program (Investigations in Number, Data, and Space). This research examines the kinds of curricular resources available to six teachers (three per program), those resources they planned to use, those actually used, ways teachers used curricular resources in association with each other, and types of adaptations made. As a result, I developed insights into capacities teachers need to use curricular resources in a connected way toward the mathematical points of the lesson.

The two programs provided curricular resources with different emphases, which influenced what teachers planned to use and actually used. Scott Foresman Addison Wesley-Mathematics allocated a considerable portion of its resources to problems for skill practice. Teachers who used this program incorporated a significant number of these problems during enactment of the lesson. Investigations in Number, Data, and Space provided many ways students might respond to tasks and questions teachers need to use to assess students’ understanding of key concepts. Teachers who used this program integrated this resource during enactment to promote and assess student thinking.

Ways in which curricular resources could be used as a coherent set toward key ideas of the lesson were not always visible to teachers. Some teachers recognized written mathematical points of the lesson and used available resources to effectively communicate key ideas to students, while others did not. Teachers’ recognition of appropriate mathematical points influenced different types of adaptations they made, which resulted in contrasting levels of emphasis placed on key mathematical ideas, meaning, and storyline, and students’ engagement in the written mathematical points of the lesson.

The results of the study revealed that to use curricular resources in a coherent way to teach to the mathematical points, teachers need to identify the mathematical points in curricular resources; identify relationships among curricular resources toward the mathematical points of the lesson, among activities within and across lessons; and recognize gaps among available curricular resources.

Access Setting

Dissertation-Open Access

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