Pedagogy for Inquiry Based Learning

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Mathematics education seems to have been in a constant state of crisis because student achievement expectations. To achieve some level of systemic change, professional organizations such as the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics and the American Mathematics Association of Two Year Colleges have published new standards for mathematics teachers. These standards require skills and teaching models different from those that we ourselves experienced as students. Targets of reform include:

• Content – Less is more. Teach a few basics very well.
• Pedagogy – Collaborative learning requiring active student participation.
• Field experience – Provide concrete experience on which to build the abstract concepts
• Faculty professional development – Support and opportunities to participate in collaborative projects across disciplines and throughout the district and state.

Content

Look for opportunities to integrate mathematics with other disciplines. Place less emphasis on knowledge as facts and more on the concept that math and science are habits of the mind. Illustrate scientific inquiry through problem solving activities. When our students progress to the workforce, they are not going to be given a ‘math’ problem or a ‘physics’ problem. They are going to work with problems requiring a variety of aptitudes which they will need to recognize.

Pedagogy

Ways that students learn are as important as what they learn. Teaching so that students are actively constructing their knowledge requires that planning include opportunities for reflection and writing. Assessment strategies need to extend beyond pencil and paper tests. Techniques for problem solving have to be included in the teaching/learning experiences. Incorporating these changes is a challenge. Constructivist classroom management is an exercise in controlled chaos.

Team teaching is a primary change at the University of Maryland, College Park. Their experience has shown that team teaching releases faculty from a priori needs for ownership of the course. As a result, the faculty members escape from the confines of a content driven curriculum. Teamwork facilitates looking at the interdisciplinary big picture. Faculty are involved in collaborative efforts and modeling the learning experiences of their students. Team teaching does not happen without significant support from the administration. College Park provided stipends for the faculty, time to participate in collaboration for curriculum development, and an understanding that initial enrollments would be low.

Field experience

Mathematics is not limited to the classroom. Use the world as a classroom. Field experience can take the form of hands-on labs such as calculating the height of CR’s flagpole or collecting data from a student designed survey or accessing resources from the World Wide Web.

Five principles of teaching through field experience include:

1. Structure learning around the big picture
2. Seek and value the student’s point of view
3. Pose problems of emerging relevance to learning
4. Assess student learning in the context of the teaching activity
5. Address the student’s suppositions and misconceptions they bring with them. (Estelle Moore, classroom teacher working with University of Maryland, College Park)

Faculty professional development

The new standards for mathematics education require faculty to embark on a journey of transformation. Learning to teach in ways different from our own learning experiences requires faculty to search out new models for their classrooms. The sage on the stage has been replaced with the guide on the side. This means all participants, students and teacher(s), are teachers. The difference between ‘teacher’ and ‘student’ is diminished. It is a sharing of knowledge. This is especially true when teaching adults in the community college setting. Our students come with skills acquired in business, from the military, through family duties, and as a consequence of social responsibilities. Faculty roles include not just setting goals but providing strategies for students to problem solve and achieve a sense of success. As the instructor, we hone in on the thinking skills and assign responsibility of learning to the student.