PhD Seminar - Mathematics Teacher Beliefs

I was invited to attend a seminar with a professor and about a dozen current teachers pursuing their 2nd master's degree or PhD in mathematics education. There were teachers in attendance from Finland, U.S., and Ghana.

The PhD research project that was presented and critiqued will research mathematics teacher beliefs -- whether their philosophy of instruction is more constructivist or more traditional. To my surprise, in the last couple of days, I have learned that there is already research here to show that many mathematics teachers here are more traditional than I thought. Hmm... another similarity between our teachers. Teachers realize or at least say that they believe in inquiry-based, constructivist learning, but it seems that many mathematics teachers prefer the textbook of problems. I look forward to learning how this project progresses and possibly being invited to a future PhD seminar...

I am pursuing avenues to share the MARS tasks from the Inside Mathematics website and the Connected Mathematics curriculum with both the mathematics professors with the university Department of Teacher Education and possibly these mathematics teachers pursuing their advanced degrees.