Research behind the Best Evidence Synthesis

Item number
BES013

BES selection
Mathematics BES

Format
Book

Title
Implementing standards-based mathematics instruction : a casebook for professional development

Author
Stein, Mary Kay ... [et al.}

Publisher
Teachers College Press

Publication Place
New York

Publishing Year
2000

Physical data
146 p

Series
Ways of Knowing in Science Series

ISBN
0807739073

Subject
Teaching

Descriptors
Teaching ; Mathematics education ; Professional development ; Mathematics teaching ; Classroom techniques

Age Focus
Children (5 to 12 years) ; Adolescents (13 to 17 years)

Education level
Primary education ; Secondary education

Language
English

How to obtain
Ask at your public or university library. If they don’t have it they can borrow it from another library for a small charge.

Abstract
This book from the QUASAR Project at the University of Pittsburgh, is intended to help people with staff development. It contains a number of "cases" for teachers to study and discuss, as they learn to implement high-level mathematics tasks successfully. The strength of the book is that it is organized around QUASAR's "Mathematical Tasks Framework". that trains teachers to analyze mathematics tasks as being at any of a number of levels: Doing Mathematics; Procedures With Connections; Procedures Without Connections; Unsystematic Exploration; Nonmathematical Activity. QUASAR has found that tasks tend to degrade, i.e., they can be designed at a high level ("doing mathematics" or "procedures with connections") but migrate to a "lower" level either when the teacher initially sets up the lesson, or as the lesson precedes (the "implementation" phase). Their data demonstrates that student achievement is enhanced when the task is designed, set up, and Implemented at a high level. The case-book describes factors that cause a high-level task either to be implemented at a high level, or to degrade. Then, it provides cases (i.e., classroom teaching episodes described in great detail) in which one or the other happens, and helps teachers analyze why. (Editor)

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The Iterative Best Evidence Synthesis programme (BES) : New Zealand Ministry of Education
http://www.educationcounts.govt.nz/themes/BES