IAS/Park City Mathematics Institute
MATHEMATICS EDUCATION RESEARCH PROGRAM (ER)

The Mathematics Education Research Program will include three strands of activity in the Summer Session of 2001.

1. Probability and Statistics Research Group, organized by Timothy Kelly, Hamilton College, and Richard Lehrer, University of Wisconsin.

Building on the work they have completed since last summer, the pre-selected group of 10 statisticians and mathematics education researchers will continue to assess curriculum and best practice for the reaching of Probability and Statistics, K-16, with the goal of articulating a research agenda for this very timely and important curriculum area in the ongoing national dialogue over mathematics education reform.

The Mathematics Education Research Program will expand its involvement with classroom teachers to include 2-3 teacher-researchers currently working with the members of this program. These teacher-researchers will participate as presenters and collaborators in all discussions on current research work and as developers of next steps.

To bring its activities to other groups of PCMI, members of the Mathematics Education Research Program will make an all-institute presentation which will focus on some of the key statistical concepts that form the foundation for the group’s work and on ways in which students thinking about these concepts is elicited. The group’s teacher-researchers will subsequently offer two sessions for interested participants from the High School Teacher Program. Participants will be provided with articles about statistical concepts, articles about eliciting and understanding student thinking, a research bibliography, and appropriate URL’s for further investigation. Also, software that has been developed or employed by the research group in their work will be demonstrated.

As an outcome of the Summer Session 2001 work, the teacher-researchers of the mathematics Education Research Program will pursue a plan to disseminate the group’s work to the wider PCMI network of Professional Development and Outreach groups in the High School Teacher Program.

2. An International Perspective on Standards and Goals for K-12 Mathematics Education. Organized by Joan Ferrini-Mundy, chair of the writing group for NCTM’s Principles and Standards for School Mathematics, this pre-selected group of 10-12 teachers, mathematicians, and educators representing diverse educational systems in countries on four different continents will review the newly revised NCTM Standards, reflect on them, discuss the role and impact of standards and goals in mathematics education in various educational contexts, and prepare a commentary for publication

3. Assessing the NCTM Principles and Standards. The National Council of Teachers of Mathematics has appointed a 5-year standing committee to assess the impact and influence of the NCTM’s Principles and Standards. Chaired by Joan Ferrini-Mundy, Michigan State University, this committee will be in-residence for one week during PCMI.

In addition, PCMI will host Deborah Ball and Hyman Bass, both of the University of Michigan, as Education Researchers in-residence for one week of the Summer Session.  Professor Ball is a member of the (Glenn) National Commission on Mathematics and Science Teaching.  Professor Bass is the President-Elect of the American Mathematical Society.

Due to its limited size and highly structured agenda, participation in the Mathematics Education Research Program for Summer Session 2001 is by invitation

PCMI Summer Session Page

PCMI Home Page

questions or concerns should be directed to C. Giesbrecht