A PARTNERSHIP BETWEEN A MIDDLE SCHOOL MATHEMATICS TEACHER AND A UNIVERSITY RESEARCHER CENTERED ON CONTENT AND TEACHING

This case study examines the evolution of a partnership between a middle school mathematics teacher and a university researcher as we discussed content and teaching. Resolutions of content-teaching tensions moved the partnership through three stages, from a focus on the content, to discussions of lesson design as the teacher gradually adopted the Connected Mathematics curriculum. Our goals changed from individualistic to a more shared vision derived through implementation of activities/problems and focusing on student thinking. The shift in the partnership can be attributed to the adoption of the Connected Mathematics curriculum by the teacher and the effective management of the dialectic tensions of acceptance/judgment, dependence/independence, affection/instrumentality and expressiveness/protectiveness by both partners. The current push for reform mathematics seeks to break away from the traditional “banking ” concept of education (Freire, 1970) where the students are viewed as receptacles that need to be “filled ” by the teacher via showing and telling, and instead move towards an approach informed by constructivism (von Glasersfeld, 1995). There is a call for students to actively construct their knowledge as part of a classroom community by engaging i