Contributed paper list


   (Thursday 17th, 15:45-17:15)   In session C14A

Middle and high school teachers’ transformative learning of center

Authors

Susan Peters, Jonathan D. Watkins, Victoria Miller Bennett

Presenter

Susan Peters (United States)

Abstract

We describe a project to design and implement professional development and investigate how dilemma, critical reflection, and rational discourse affect middle and high school teachers’ reasoning about center. Framed by transformative learning theory, the study highlights how teachers’ engagement with activities focused on these elements can enhance understandings of traditionally problematic content. Results reveal that critically reflecting on activities, engaging in rational discourse while working on activities, and examining multiple perspectives through multiple representations and conceptualizations broadened teachers’ perspectives on the mean. This study contributes to teacher education by identifying circumstances conducive to deepening statistical understandings and supporting reasoning in increasingly sophisticated ways using a theoretical frame for adult learning to investigate teacher learning.