The CITE-Math Journal is an online, open-access publication that provides teacher educators with a forum for sharing best practices surrounding the use of technology in the teaching of mathematics, with particular emphasis on the preparation of mathematics teachers. The journal welcomes submissions addressing any area of research dealing with the use of technology in mathematics teacher education programs at both preservice and inservice levels. A wide range of formats and approaches to scholarship are accepted, including qualitative, quantitative, and mixed-methodological research studies, theoretical pieces, and innovative practice papers.
Papers are reviewed using the following criteria: relevance to technology and mathematics teacher education research, originality, clarity of expression, and literature support. As an online journal, CITE-Math welcomes the inclusion of various media in submissions. Authors are encouraged to include applets, color graphics, photographs, and video in their submitted work. Manuscripts are submitted online through the journal website (http://bit.ly/submitcite). Inquiries about potential manuscript topics are welcomed by emailing journal editors, Doug Lapp (lapp1da@cmich.edu) and Todd Edwards (edwardm2@miamioh.edu). The following listing includes information about three papers published in 2014 in CITE-Math papers. We encourage you to explore the full text of the articles by clicking on the links provided within the list.
- Sherman, M. (2014). The role of technology in supporting students’ mathematical thinking: Extending the metaphors of amplifier and reorganizer. Contemporary Issues in Technology and Teacher Education, 14(3). Retrieved fromhttp://www.citejournal.org/vol14/iss3/mathematics/article1.cfm
This study analyzed the setup and implementation of 63 mathematical tasks in three secondary and one middle school mathematics classroom. The main research question was centered on the relationship between the use of technology and the cognitive demand of mathematical tasks. Sherman used The Mathematical Tasks Framework (Stein & Smith, 1998), to characterize students’ mathematical thinking and the cognitive demand of the mathematical tasks; and the metaphors of amplifier and reorganizer (Pea, 1985, 1987) to describe the use and role of technological tools for low-and high level tasks. Data collection methods included lesson observation field notes, task artifacts, student work on the task, and audio-recorded post lesson interviews with the teachers. Results indicate that the use of technology generally aligned with teachers’ current practice in terms of the distribution of low- and high-level tasks enacted in their classrooms. The use of technology as a reorganizer of students’ thinking was strongly correlated with these teachers’ attempts to engage their students with high-level tasks. However, integration of technology with high cognitive demand tasks is a complex endeavor; that is why Sherman suggests that holistic professional development is needed that integrates the use of technological tools with engaging students in high-level mathematical thinking.
- Herbst, P., Chieu, V., & Rougee, A. (2014). Approximating the practice of mathematics teaching: What learning can web-based, multimedia storyboarding software enable? Contemporary Issues in Technology and Teacher Education, 14(4). Retrieved fromhttp://www.citejournal.org/vol14/iss4/mathematics/article1.cfm
This article makes a case for using a web-based software LessonSketch (www.lessonsketch.org) to help pre-service teachers (PSTs) learn to do the work of teachers. The authors argued that it is more powerful to have pre-service teachers engage in the practice of teaching, but early on they advocate for an intermediate step before practicing on real students in classrooms. They make a case for pre-service teachers engaging in an interactive environment where there is potential for PSTs to create classroom situations where cartoon versions of teachers and students interact given a typical mathematical situation and text bubbles to create actual classroom conversations. Each of these “scenes” that are created help PSTs to reflect on the possible ways students may interact and how teachers can effectively handle them. The software allows other PSTs to comment on these created scenes. In addition, the authors conducted a research study that compared PSTs use of this software vs. others who just used a text-based scenario. What they found was PSTs described a more complex classroom situation where their cartoon students talked or asked questions 30% of the time as opposed to almost never in the text-based situations. The article provides many details on how LessonSketch was used in a secondary mathematics methods course.
- Kastberg, S., Lynch-Davis, K., & D'Ambrosio, B (2014). Examining mathematics teacher educators’ emerging practices in online environments. Contemporary Issues in Technology and Teacher Education, 14(4). Retrieved fromhttp://www.citejournal.org/vol14/iss4/mathematics/article2.cfm
Teacher professional development and course work using asynchronous online environments seems promising, yet little is known about how mathematics teacher educators (MTEs) develop practices for such spaces. Research has shown that views of learning impact design of online learning spaces, enabling and constraining particular student action (Duffy & Jonassen, 1991; Jonassen, 1998). More remains to be examined about the steps being taken to make sense of MTEs’ practices to support learning. In this paper, facets of MTEs' struggle to design an asynchronous online environment and enact a practice aligned with a view of learning are explored.