Keith Leatham recently published an article titled “Theoretically Framing the Pedagogy of Learning to Teach Mathematics with Technology” in Contemporary Issues in Technology and Teacher Education. Keith has answered a few questions about this article below:
Who were your co-authors on this article?
Allison McCulloch at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte, Nina Bailey at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte, Charity Cayton at East Carolina University, Kristen Fye at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte, and Jennifer Lovett at Middle Tennessee State University
Who would you say is the target audience for this article?
Mathematics teacher educators
What is the big problem you hoped to address with this article?
The big problem is that the work of teaching teachers about learning and teaching mathematics with technology is somewhat isolated work and we wanted to help share information about the theoretical undergirding of that work. One reason for focusing on theoretical framing in particular is because the AMTE Standards for Preparing Teachers talks about the importance of such frameworks in teacher preparation programs and no one had ever investigated just what those frameworks are.
What are some of the key ideas in the article?
We found that frameworks “framed” a number of different things. Figure 18 in the paper (p. 351) is a good visual to show these various dimensions.
What are some of the main ideas you hope your audience will take from this article?
We hope that readers of the paper go away with additional ideas about frameworks that might inform their work in preparing teachers to teach with technology.
Abstract:
Frameworks can influence the work of mathematics teacher educators (MTEs) in many different ways. Frameworks can suggest a structure around which MTEs design instruction, provide a common language for communicating with prospective teachers, and support prospective teachers as they design their own instruction. This paper reports findings related to the frameworks that MTEs are currently using in their work of preparing secondary mathematics teachers to teach with technology. Findings include a list of 17 frameworks, which fall into four categories with respect to their framing: (a) how students use and learn with technology, (b) the design and evaluation of technology tools and tasks, (c) how teachers use technology, and (d) how teachers learn to use technology. The individual frameworks within each category are discussed and implications for mathematics teacher educators are presented. Implications include a critical discussion of what is missing among the frameworks and challenges for the field.