Time for (Research on) Change in Mathematics Departments
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Time for (Research on) Change in Mathematics Departments Daniel L. Reinholz 1
& Chris
Rasmussen 1 & Elena Nardi 2
# Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2020
Abstract This research commentary argues for more research that attends to the processes of organizational change in mathematics departments. It outlines both the ways that research on organizational change can benefit scholarship in mathematics departments, and how mathematics education researchers are needed to develop theories of change that are contextualized to the teaching and learning of undergraduate mathematics. This commentary closes with a research agenda for moving this emergent field of study forward. This agenda involves applying change theories to historical, ongoing, and new change projects in mathematics departments, while simultaneously attending to issues of equity and social justice. Keywords Mathematics departments . Organizational change . Research methods .
Systemic change Research in undergraduate mathematics education (RUME) has long embraced the complementary goals of explicating fundamental processes of – and improving – the learning and teaching of mathematics. This often means examining change, but the objects of inquiry into what is changing have varied over time. Much of RUME has focused on learners, including conceptual or cognitive change, change in affect, change in discourse, and change in participation in classroom and mathematical practices. More recently, RUME is attending to undergraduate teachers to examine change in beliefs, knowledge, discourses, instructional approaches, assessment practices, and use of resources. A third focus of change has been on the dynamic nature of theory, especially as it relates to cultural shifts and the context in which theory has been developed (Inglis & Foster 2018; Rasmussen & Wawro 2017; Winsløw et al. 2018). Overall though, with a few exceptions (e.g., Rämö et al. 2019), largely
* Daniel L. Reinholz [email protected]
1
Department of Mathematics & Statistics, San Diego State University, San Diego, CA 92182-7720, USA
2
University of East Anglia, Norwich Research Park, Norwich, Norfolk NR4 7TJ, UK
International Journal of Research in Undergraduate Mathematics Education
missing is a focus on change in mathematics departments. In this Research Commentary, we call for research that focuses more emphatically on the processes and reasons by which organizational change in mathematics departments is initiated, implemented, and sustained. Such work, we argue, will necessarily build on, and leverage, the rich body of research focused on learners, teachers, and theory. Research on change in mathematics departments is needed as departments take the growing and sustained calls for improvement in mathematics and science learning and teaching more and more seriously. Examples of such calls include the President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology (PCAST) in the United States (PCAST 2012) and the Rocard et al. (2007) report in Europe. While such politically and socio-economicall
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