Facilitating inquiry based learning in mathematics teacher education

Abstract

A driving question in teacher education centers on how to help prospective teachers become expert teachers. The absence of a shared professional curriculum to prepare teachers to teach mathematics combined with the difficulty translating traditional research knowledge into forms that teachers can use in their practice have motivated this study. This paper reports on the combined efforts of teacher educators, teachers, and preservice teachers to engage in inquiry-based teaching of primary mathematics. What is innovative is the use of the classroom lesson as the unit of analysis combined with engagement in cycles of inquiry to produce exemplar mathematics lessons. Lesson Study was the primary method used to support a focus on examining teaching through the design and implementation of ‘study lessons’. Insights into preservice teachers’ reflections on inquiry-based teaching are presented in addition to a discussion of the benefits of efforts such as this which translate traditional research knowledge into forms preservice and practising teachers can use to improve their practice.