Raising the Bar in Mathematics Classrooms
Leading team
- Dr. Jason Cooper project coordinator
- Yonah Amir
- Dr. Orly Gottlib
- Dr. Ruth Reiz
- Prof. Boris Koichu
Project members
- Michael Gorodin
- Esther Gruenhut
- Magdoleen Hazran
- Hajali Moaadii
- Omri Nave
Summary
The goal of this project is to encourage middle-school teachers to challenge their students with increasingly demanding problem-solving activity at an increasing frequency. To this effect we create a collection of demanding mathematical problems – many of which are contextualized in authentic real-life settings (following the OECD’s conceptual framework for the international PISA test) – and engage teachers in professional learning communities around classroom enactment of problems, both from the collection and from other sources that teachers choose to draw on. Teachers collaborate in planning classroom enactment of the problems and in reflecting on the activity and on their students’ engagement, towards planning the next enactment. A technology-supported mechanism for reflecting upon each classroom enactment aims to support systematic and long-term incorporation of problem-solving practices in mathematics teaching. The frequency and quality of implementation of problem-solving activities in the classroom are the main success criteria of the project. The program is funded by the Trump Foundation (2020-2024).
Administration
Links for further reading
- PISA 2021 Mathematics Frameworkl
- Cooper, J., & Koichu, B. (submitted for publication). In the pursuit of impact: Design and practice of three innovative professional development programs for mathematics teachers. In A. Hofstein, A. Arcavi, & A. Yarden (Eds.), Fifty Years of Curriculum Development, Implementation and Research in the Department of Science Teaching, the Weizmann Institute of Science, Israel. Dordrecht, NL: Sense-Brill.