What's Happening in Math Class? Vol. 2: Reconstructing Professional Identities

This book is the second of two volumes (Schifter 1996) resulting from the work of the Mathematics Process Writing Project (MPWP) in the United States of America. The project was directed over a three-year period (1990–1993) by Deborah Schifter of the Center for the Development of Teaching at the Education Development Center in Newton (Massachusetts) and was an extension of the work of the SummerMath for Teachers courses at Mount Holyoke College in South Hadley (Massachusetts) which Schifter directed from 1988 to 1993. The MPWP involved 48 teachers (44 women and four men) in the production of narratives (49 are mentioned on p. 5) about their classroom experiences in mathematics. In the first volume, 13 narratives were published and the second volume here under review includes nine narratives from elementary school teachers spanning Grades Kindergarten through 6. Four mathematics teacher educators provide commentaries on three pairs and one trio of narratives. Schifter provides an introduction, a conclusion and two appendices which helpfully include details of the structure of the MPWP courses, and the reading and writing assignments given to the participants. In order to understand the significance of this book for the international development of mathematics education it is necessary to situate it in the context of recent developments in the USA. Schifter (p. 1) refers to " a convergence between changing social needs and two decades of research in cognitive psychology " which has helped to shape a new vision of the teaching and learning process in classrooms. This vision has been embodied in a number of influential policy documents over the last ten years, including major publications from the Mathematical Association Central to this vision is a constructivist view of learning in which each student builds a personal set of meanings for the mathematics in the curriculum as implemented by teachers in the classroom. In the words of the National Research Council (1989, p. 58–59), for students to understand what they learn " they must enact for themselves verbs that permeate the mathematics curriculum: 'examine', 'represent', 'transform', 'solve', 'apply', 'prove', 'communicate'. " This view of the learning process has fundamental implications for both the forms of student engagement to be promoted in the mathematics classroom and the role of the teacher as a facilitator in such engagement. The emphasis shifts to communication and collaboration among students in posing questions, formulating conjectures, discussing problems and evaluating solutions. In all …