Interdisciplinary Perspectives in a Teacher Development Program
Abstract
"We describe the Poincare Institute's efforts to develop interdisciplinary graduate level courses, along with school-based support, for grades 5 to 9 teachers. In the courses, teachers examine the content of middle school mathematics in depth, going beyond what they teach, and from the perspectives of mathematics, mathematics education, and physics, including investigations of students' learning and reasoning. We mention previous collaboration leading to the project and on the evolution of our shared vision towards the improvement of teaching and learning. We illustrate our progress by examining how the first course was structured and later adjusted on the basis of what we have learned from the first cohort of 60 participant teachers from nine New England School Districts."
