Social Science and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC) Insight Grant

RECONCEPTUALIZING SECONDARY MATHEMATICS TEACHER EDUCATION: CRITICAL AND REFLEXIVE PERSPECTIVES

2012-2016

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RESEARCH PROGRAM OVERVIEW (ABSTRACT)
RESEARCH PRODUCTS AND DISSEMINATION:
Three (3) Perspectives/Dimensions:
1. PROspective
2. RETROspective
3. INTROspective
Mathematics Specialist Teacher (MST)
Media  & Other Reports

 

RESEARCH PROGRAM OVERVIEW (Abstract):
This qualitative research program seeks to strengthen connections between teacher education, curriculum reform and mathematics education research. The objectives of this research program focus on challenging the traditional images of mathematics teacher education programs as places to ‘train’ and ‘prepare’ mathematics teachers. In reconceptualizing teacher education programs, this research initiative studies the interplay of three different perspectives, or dimensions, of teacher education. Firstly, from the pre-service, or prospective, teacher perspective (the PROspective), the goal of the research is to create a multi-dimensional model for the internship experience in secondary mathematics teacher education, one that strengthens theory-practice transitions. From the perspective of novice teachers (the RETROspective), this research strives to inform and reform teacher education programs through enhanced university-school partnerships. And finally, from the perspective of a teacher educator (the INTROspective), the research program includes a critical self-study inquiry into the pedagogical and curriculum choices that a mathematics teacher educator faces in her own practice.

A recent addition to the research program (emerging from results of the RETROspective dimension) studies the use of Mathematics Specialist Teachers (MSTs) in middle years (grades 6-8). This research study (entitled, What perceptions do individuals, involved in mathematics teaching and learning, hold of the use of mathematics specialist teachers in Grades 6-8?) was carried out during 2014-2015 in the province of Saskatchewan with five different stakeholder groups: 1) elementary (K-8) school administrators, 2) Grade 6-8 classroom teachers, 3) Grade 6-8 students, and 4) their parents/guardians, and 5) university pre-service middle years teachers.

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Publications, Conference Presentations, and Reports

The PROspective (pre-service teacher) dimension

Peer-Reviewed Publications

  • Nolan, K. (2015). Beyond tokenism in the field? On the learning of a Mathematics teacher educator and faculty supervisor. Cogent Education, 2: 1065580. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/2331186X.2015.1065580 [Article PDF]
  • Nolan, K. (2015). Virtually there (again): Internship e-advisors and professional learning communities in mathematics teacher education. In Mukhopadhyay, S., & Greer, B. (Eds.), Proceedings of the Eighth International Mathematics Education and Society (MES8) Conference (pp. 206-211). Portland, OR: Ooligan Press, PSU. [Paper PDF]
  • Nolan, K. (2014). Studying the intersections of real, virtual and ‘best practices’ in becoming a mathematics teacher through professional learning communities. In A. Rogerson (Ed.), Proceedings of the 12th International Conference of the Mathematics Education for the Future Project: The Future of Mathematics in a Connected World. Montenegro: 2014. [Article PDF]
  • Nolan, K. (2012). Dispositions in the field: Viewing mathematics teacher education field experiences through the lens of Bourdieu’s social field theory. Educational Studies in Mathematics (ESM), [Special Issue on Contemporary Theory, edited by T. Brown & M. Walshaw], 80 (1/2), 201-215. DOI: 10.1007/s10649-011-9355-9. [Article PDF]
  • Nolan, K., & Walshaw, M. (2012). Playing the game: A Bourdieuian perspective of pre-service inquiry teaching. Teaching Education, 23(4), 345-363. [Article PDF]

Paper Presentations at Scholarly Meetings,Conferences and Invited Seminars

  • Nolan, K. (March 2016). Learning communities in teacher education: Exploring intersections of real, virtual and “best practices” in field experience supervision. Paper presented at the 10th annual International Technology, Education and Development (INTED) Conference, Valencia, Spain, 7-9 March 2016.

Hear the Audio:

 

  • Nolan, K., Rogers, K., & Sundeen, J. (2016). Using an Integrated Noticing Framework for professional development in a mathematics teacher education learning community. Paper accepted for presentation at the Hawaii International Conference on Education, Honolulu, HI, 3-6 January 2016.

 

  • Nolan, K. (Nov. 2015).  Professional learning communities: Exploring alternative models for teacher education internship and faculty supervision. Invited presentation in the Faculty of Education, Mount Saint Vincent University (MSVU), Halifax, Nova Scotia,November 9, 2015.
  • Nolan, K., Adams, C., Shaw, K., Stein, R., & Sundeen, J. (2015). Engaging mathematics teachers and prospective teachers in professional learning communities during internship. Presentation at WestCAST 2015, University of Saskatchewan, 19-20 February 2015.
  • Nolan, K., Vendramin, D., Erickson, M., McMurchy, A., & Rogers, K. (2014). Exploring professional learning communities and lesson study in being and becoming a mathematics teacher. Presentation at the annual Saskatchewan Understands Mathematics (SUM) conference, University of Saskatchewan, 2-3 May.
  • Nolan, K. & Thibeault, S. (Feb. 2012). The E-advisor Project: Exploring the role of technology in secondary mathematics pre-service teacher field experience. Presentation at the Western Canadian Association of Student Teaching (WestCAST), 22-24 Feb., Calgary, AB.

 

  • Nolan, K. (2012). Innovations in/for the field: Reconceptualizing secondary mathematics teacher education. Paper presented at International Conference on Education, Research and Innovation (ICERI), 19-21 November, Madrid, Spain.
    View the presentation.
NOLAN_innovation-in-for-the-field_ICERI2012

 

 

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The RETROspective (novice teacher) dimension

Peer-Reviewed Publications

  • Nolan, K. (2016). Schooling novice mathematics teachers on structures and strategies: A Bourdieuian perspective on the role of ‘others’ in classroom practices. Special Issue on Contemporary Theory II, Educational Studies in Mathematics, 92(3),315-329. DOI: 10.1007/s10649-015-9668-1. [Article in research gate]  [Article PDF]
  • Nolan, K. (2014). Discursive productions of teaching and learning through inquiry: Novice teachers reflect on becoming a teacher and secondary mathematics teacher education. In L. Thomas (Ed.), Becoming Teacher: Sites for Teacher Development in Canadian Teacher Education (pp. 258-288). E-book published by the Canadian Association for Teacher Education at https://sites.google.com/site/cssecate/fall-working-conference. [Chapter PDF]

Paper Presentations at Scholarly Meetings,Conferences and Invited Seminars

  • Nolan, K. (2015). When old habit(u)s die hard: Bourdieu, teacher education, and becoming a mathematics teacher. Paper presented at the annual conference of the Canadian Society for the Study of Education (CSSE), University of Ottawa, 30 May – 4 June, 2015.
    View the presentation..
 
NOLAN_when-old-habitus-die-hard_CSSE2015_presentation_May2015

 

  • Nolan, K. (Nov. 2015).  Professional learning communities: Exploring alternative models for teacher education internship and faculty supervision. Invited presentation in the Faculty of Education, Mount Saint Vincent University (MSVU), Halifax, Nova Scotia,November 9, 2015.
  • Nolan, K. (Sept. 2013). On be(com)ing a mathematics teacher: A retrospective view of teacher education. Paper presented at the European Conference on Educational Research (ECER): “Creativity and Innovation in Educational Research”, 10-13 Sept., Istanbul, Turkey.
  • Nolan, K. (Jun. 2013). Brush Fires in the field: Schooling novice mathematics teachers on structures and strategies of classroom practices. Paper presented at the 2nd conference on Mathematics Education and Contemporary Theory (MECT2), 21-24 Jun., Manchester, UK.
  • Sharma, M., Barchuk, Z., Harkins, M., Hirschkorn, M., Sears, A., Janzen, M., & Nolan, K. (Jun. 2013). Teachers becoming: Disruption, difficulty, and difference in teacher education. Symposium presentation at the annual conference of the Canadian Society for the Study of Education (CSSE), 2-5 Jun, Victoria, BC.
  • Nolan, K. (Nov. 2012). When is a becoming teacher done (becoming)? Novice teachers reflect on becoming a teacher and/in secondary mathematics teacher education. Paper for participation in the 6th Annual CATE Working Conference on Research in Teacher Education, Montreal, QC, 1-3 November 2012.


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The INTROspective (teacher educator) dimension

Peer-Reviewed Publications

  • Nolan, K. (2016). Stimulating conversations between theory and methodology in mathematics teacher education research: Inviting Bourdieu into self-study research. In M. Murphy & C. Costa (Eds.), Theory as method in research: On Bourdieu, social theory and education (pp. 171-190). UK: Routledge. [link]
  • Boylan, M., Brown, L., Nolan, K., Jørgen Braathe, H., Portaankorva-Koivisto, P., & Coles, A. (2015). Praxis in mathematics teacher education: Introduction to a series of short communications. For the Learning of Mathematics, 35(1), 39-47.
  • Nolan, K. (2014). Survival of the fit: A Bourdieuian and graph theory network analogy for mathematics teacher education. In P. Liljedahl, C. Nicol, S. Oesterle, & D. Allan (Eds.). (2014). Proceedings of the 38th Conference of the International Group for the Psychology of Mathematics Education and the 36th Conference of the North American Chapter of the Psychology of Mathematics Education (Vol. 4, pp. 313-320). Vancouver, Canada: PME. [Article PDF]
  • Nolan, K., & Tupper, J. (2013). ‘Field’ trips with Bourdieu: Making sense as research methodology in teacher education. International Journal of Humanities and Social Science (IJHSS), 6(3), 11-19.

Paper Presentations at Scholarly Meetings,Conferences and Invited Seminars

  • Nolan, K. (Oct. 2015). Introducing Bourdieu-informed discourse analysis (BIDA) for teacher education. Invited Seminar, Theory & Method in Research Seminar Series, Faculty of Education, University of Regina, Regina, SK, October 21, 2015.
 

  • Nolan, K. (2015). When sociology and mathematics meet teacher education: Proposing a Bourdieu-informed discourse analysis for self-study in mathematics teacher education. Paper presented at the 2015 European  Conference on Educational Research (ECER), Budapest, HU, 7-11 September.
    View the presentation.
 
Nolan_sociology-and-mathematics-meet-TE_ECER2015-presentation

  • Nolan, K. (2015). Bourdieu, mathematics teacher education, and survival of the fit. Paper presented at the annual conference of the British Sociological Association (BSA), Glasgow Caledonian University, Glasgow, UK, 15-17 April 2015.
  • Nolan, K. (2013). Inviting Bourdieu into self-study research? The potential for stimulating conversations in teacher education research. Paper presented at the annual conference of the Canadian Society for the Study of Education (CSSE), 2-5 Jun, Victoria, BC.
  • Nolan, K. (2012) Stimulating conversations between methodology and theory in mathematics education research: What do self-study and field theory have to say to each other? Paper presented (as part of a mathematics education panel entitled, Rethinking Empiricism in Mathematics Education Research) at the Eighth International Congress of Qualitative Inquiry (ICQI), University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Illinois, 16-19 May 2012.
  • Nolan, K. & Tupper, J. (2012). Field trips with Bourdieu: From meta-theory to the practices in/of teacher education. Paper presented at the Eighth International Congress of Qualitative Inquiry (ICQI), University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 16-19 May 2012.


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Mathematics Specialist Teacher (MST) Study

 

 

  • Junqueira, K.E., & Nolan, K.T. (2016). Considering the roles of Mathematics specialist teachers in grade 6-8 classrooms. IEJME-Mathematics Education, 11(4), 975-989. [link] [article pdf]
  • Nolan, K., & Graham, S. (2016). School mathematics as gatekeeper: Challenging persistent discourses in the teaching and learning of mathematics. Paper accepted for presentation at the Hawaii International Conference on Education, Honolulu, HI, 3-6 January 2016.
 

    • Nolan, K., & Graham, S. (2015). Who keeps the gate? Pre-service teachers’ perceptions on teaching and learning mathematics.  In Mukhopadhyay, S., & Greer, B. (Eds.), Proceedings of the Eighth International Mathematics Education and Society (MES8) Conference (pp. 834-845). Portland, OR: Ooligan Press, PSU. [Paper PDF]
    • Junqueira, K., & Nolan, K. (2014). Pre-service teachers’ perceptions of a Mathematics specialist teacher’s role in grades 6-8 classrooms. In A. Rogerson (Ed.), Proceedings of the 12th International Conference of the Mathematics Education for the Future Project: The Future of Mathematics in a Connected World. Montenegro: 2014.  [Article PDF]
  • Nolan, K., & Plummer, E. (2014). Having a passion for mathematics: the role of mathematics specialist teachers in grades 6-8 classrooms. In P. Liljedahl, C. Nicol, S. Oesterle, & D. Allan (Eds.). (2014). Proceedings of the 38th Conference of the International Group for the Psychology of Mathematics Education and the 36th Conference of the North American Chapter of the Psychology of Mathematics Education (Vol. 6, p. 6-185). Vancouver, Canada: PME.
    View the presentation.
 
Nolan-Plummer_SO_PME2014_presentation_having-a-passion

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Media & Other Reports