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Learning in Good Company: Report on a Pilot Study.

In this report, the authors describe the first year of an ongoing intervention study and the learning of a group of teachers and researchers who are working together to make changes in the ways they teach mathematics. When reflecting on their beginning efforts, the researchers found that several assumptions in their planned interventions were not born out by the group's experience. The subject matter content (integers) they selected as an initial focus of study posed major difficulties for several of the teachers. The teachers' interest in talking about their own practices strongly influenced the group's interactions. Collectively, the teachers and researchers created a learning community that was grounded in watching videotapes of mathematics teaching in a third grade classroom and discussing ideas about teaching and learning in ways that were different from their own experiences as teachers and students. Here, the researchers pose a set of conjectures that serve as a framework for the continuing collaboration of this group of educators' inquiry into non-traditional approaches in the teaching and learning of mathematics. LEARNING IN GOOD COMPANY: REPORT ON A PILOT STUDY Helen Featherstone, Lauren Pfeiffer, and Stephen P. Smith Over the past decade, various reports have identified serious deficiencies in mathematics education in the United States (MSEB, 1989; MSEB, 1990; McKnight, et. al., 1987; National Commission on Excellence in Education, 1983). The National Council of Teachers of Mathematics (NCTM) has responded to these calls for reform with the publication of the Curriculum and Evaluation Standards (1989) and the Professional Standards for Teaching Mathematics (1991). These documents present a vision of mathematics education based on research in cognitive psychology which indicates learners construct knowledge rather than being passive receivers of knowledge. The image that emerges from these documents is of classrooms where teachers are: Selecting mathematical tasks to engage students' interests and intellect; Providing opportunities to deepen their understanding of the mathematics being studied and its applications; Orchestrating classroom discourse in ways that promote the investigation and growth of mathematical ideas; Using, and helping students use, technology and other tools to pursue mathematical investigations; Seeking, and helping students seek, connections to previous and developing knowledge; Guiding individual, small group, and whole-class work (NCTM, 1991; p. 1). Helen Featherstone, associate professor of teacher education at Michigan State University, is a senior researcher with the National Center for Research on Teacher Learning. She is at present particularly interested in the teaching and learning of mathematics and the role conversation can play in learning. Lauren Pfeiffer, a doctoral candidate in educational psychology at Michigan State University, is a research assistant with the National Center for Research on Teacher Learning. Her interests include the learning of practicing teachers; specifically, the role of professional development groups in learning from experience. She is also interested in the use of multimedia technologies in learning to teach.