[MLTI-MS] Professional Development Opportunity for Math Teachers

[Jeff Mao]

Call for Participants:  Middle School Mathematics Teachers
Professional Development Opportunity
Building Algebraic Thinking through Patterns and Functions

Who:      Grade 7 and 8 mathematics teachers who would like to take a  
free professional development course in fostering algebraic thinking  
in their students
What:            Building Algebraic Thinking through Patterns and  
Functions
Where:             Online
When:             Starting in October 15, 2006, ending December 9, 2006
EDC (Education Development Center) and the Boston College Technology  
and Assessment Study Collaborative are collaborating on a research  
project, funded by the National Science Foundation, to investigate  
the effectiveness of alternative approaches to online professional  
development.  The research explores the impact of these approaches on  
teachers’ content knowledge and instructional practices and will be  
led by Dr. Glenn Kleiman of EDC and Dr. Mike Russell of Boston  
College. We are looking for middle school (grades 7-8) mathematics  
teachers who are interested in participating in a professional  
development offering as part of this research project.  As part of  
the project you will be enrolled in an 8 -week, online course that  
will provide innovative algebra classroom activities for your  
students.  The course will focus on cultivating algebraic thinking in  
your class through number activities and the study of patterns and  
functions.  The course will also introduce web-based technology that  
is available at no cost that you can use in your classroom to help  
promote algebraic thinking.  In return for your participation in the  
research activities, you will receive a $200 stipend.  You can also  
choose to obtain graduate course credit from Antioch University  
Seattle for a reduced tuition fee of $100 (to which we will apply the  
$200 stipend).

Some participant comments from previous course evaluation are below:

I would strongly recommend this course to my colleagues (and already  
have), as I found the course to be extremely valuable in providing me  
with sound, effective approaches I can use in conjunction with the  
challenges I offer my students to cultivate their mathematical thinking.

Building Algebraic Thinking is a great course to help analyze your  
teaching practices and elicit algebraic thinking in your students. It  
encourages you to analyze your students' thinking, provides materials  
to enhance your classroom, and fine tunes your questioning techniques.

About the Research Project:

The research will compare two types of online professional  
development.  Both types cover the same content and require the same  
time commitment.   The online models are:

Individualized self-paced: In this model, teachers do the course work  
within 8 weeks on their own schedule and interact through email with  
facilitator.
Structured, learning community based:  This model follows a weekly  
schedule and participants taking the course interact with one another  
and the instructor through an asynchronous online forum.
Participation Requirements:

Participants must be teachers of grade 7 or 8 mathematics.   
Participants must also agree to be randomly placed in one of the two  
conditions.  Each of the conditions will run over the same 8 week  
period, with an expectation that participants will spend 4 - 5 hours  
per week on online and off-line activities related to the course.   
Participants must have access to a computer with internet access and  
a working email account. In addition to completing the professional  
development coursework, participating teachers must be willing to:

complete pre- and post-surveys at the beginning and end of the course  
(we estimate the surveys will take 90 minutes to complete),
hand out and return to research team a brief (15 minute) student  
survey, and
fill out a short (5 minute per day) log twice for three-day intervals.
Participant should also be available for informal communications via  
email or phone throughout the 8-week period.

Timing:

The course will begin on October 15, 2006 and run for 8 weeks.

Next Steps:

If you are interested in registering for the course, please do so by  
October  5, 2006 by clicking on the following link and register:  
http://www2.edc.org/edc-research/Year4/registerBATM.asp.  You will  
receive an automatic response acknowledging your registration  
immediately, and a personalized email about which condition you are  
assigned to a few weeks after that.  If you would like more  
information, contact Rebby Carey.  You can call her at 617-618-2892  
or email at rcarey at edc.org.





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Jeff Mao
Coordinator of Educational Technology
Maine Department of Education
23 State House Station • Augusta, ME 04333
(207) 624-6634 (office) • (207) 462-4137 (mobile)
(207) 624-6601 (FAX)
jeff.mao at maine.gov



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