The project consists of four studies. In the first, we collaborated with a group of partner teachers to design eight problem- and discussion-based lessons that they implemented with their Geometry and Algebra students. We are using records of those implementations to explore what mathematics conceptions students bring to these lessons and to create representations of those lessons that may be used by other teachers.

In the second study, we use records from those lessons to seed a series of StoryCircles. StoryCircles is a process of teacher collaboration in which colleagues learn from each other as they script, prototype, and argue about the teaching of a lesson (Herbst & Milewski, 2018). In the T4D project, StoryCircles focus on different ways of managing whole class discussions in problem-based lessons.

In the third study, we explore teachers’ decision making in problem-based lessons at scale. Through survey experiments that employ classroom scenarios in which practice is represented with cartoon characters, we explore whether and how the decisions to frame work on a problem in one or another way (e.g., as construction, as proof) affects the decisions teachers make in the context of classroom discussions.

Finally, in the fourth study, we will be using families of stories generated in the StoryCircles to create simulations for other teachers to explore the space of possible actions and decisions about how to manage classroom discussions based on possible student work on each problem. Through this work, we will explore the proposition that these simulations can accelerate learning by other teachers.

Publications related to this project