Teaching and learning involve reflexive actions and should be chosen thoughtfully and deliberately, not because someone has decided what works. In this study, I examine how complex conversations might offer pedagogical and theoretical (re)considerations in a teacher education course on mathematics. The term math methods is a doubly weighted phrase, for both mathematics and methods connote particular ideologies prevalent in current educational rhetoric. In order to unpack the impact of these words, I engage in research based on inquiry, historical analysis, and personal reflections, all of which I use in an eclectic, thoughtful, and explorative manner.
The two main research questions I will explore in this dissertation involve effort by teacher and student in which both are learners, knowers and participants. The first question is how can complex conversationsthose involving multiple perspectivesaid pre-service teachers in becoming reflective practitioners, effective professionals, and inquiring pedagogues? Specifically, teaching mathematics as a relational activityin which a hermeneutical perspective is crucialbrings forth epistemological questions and issues. The historical situatedness of teacher education and mathematics education become relevant with respect to current epistemological perspectives of teachers and researchers, and these influences are examined in the context of pre-service teachers positionalities. The second question involves an examination of how I am transformed as I experience and reflect on participation in these complex conversations. While engaged as an instructor, I am simultaneously influenced by research in complexity theory, curriculum theory, and teacher education.
In complex conversations, we can find possibilities for teaching and learning, even potential ways of being that we do not yet know. Complex conversations encourage a different form of interaction, a different way of imagining the worlddifferent from a Ramist method of hierarchies, different from a patriarchal positioning of supervisors over teachers and teachers over students, and different from mathematics as what is. In (re)imagining what mathematics can be, it is important to recognize how mathematics is currently construed. May mathematics education be(come) a field of study that allows for differences, multiple perspectives, and authentic questions, where ideas do not converge or diverge but co-emerge.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:LSU/oai:etd.lsu.edu:etd-04032006-154756 |
| Date | 04 April 2006 |
| Creators | Smitherman, Sarah Elizabeth |
| Contributors | David H. Kirshner, Nina Asher, Ian Crystal, William E. Doll, Jr., M. Jayne Fleener |
| Publisher | LSU |
| Source Sets | Louisiana State University |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | text |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Source | http://etd.lsu.edu/docs/available/etd-04032006-154756/ |
| Rights | unrestricted, I hereby certify that, if appropriate, I have obtained and attached herein a written permission statement from the owner(s) of each third party copyrighted matter to be included in my thesis, dissertation, or project report, allowing distribution as specified below. I certify that the version I submitted is the same as that approved by my advisory committee. I hereby grant to LSU or its agents the non-exclusive license to archive and make accessible, under the conditions specified below and in appropriate University policies, my thesis, dissertation, or project report in whole or in part in all forms of media, now or hereafter known. I retain all other ownership rights to the copyright of the thesis, dissertation or project report. I also retain the right to use in future works (such as articles or books) all or part of this thesis, dissertation, or project report. |
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