Teachers as Participants in Textbook Development: The Integrated Mathematics Wiki-book Project
This chapter examines how the conventional relationships between teachers and textbooks may be expanded so that teachers become more genuine participants in the process of textbook development. The Integrated Mathematics Wiki-book Project is used as a veh
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Abstract This chapter examines how the conventional relationships between teachers and textbooks may be expanded so that teachers become more genuine participants in the process of textbook development. The Integrated Mathematics Wikibook Project is used as a vehicle for investigating this matter. First, the work environment provided for teachers is described. Then, the chapter focuses on the ways in which teachers participated in the joint editing of a textbook they were using in class, during the first year of the project. The analysis focuses on three aspects that characterize the unique work environment provided for the teachers: (1) designing a textbook for a broad student population, (2) preparing a new textbook by making changes to a textbook designed by expert curriculum developers, and (3) consulting with professionals that are not part of the teachers’ usual milieu. Keywords Textbook development · Teachers as curriculum developers · Teachers and textbooks · Wiki-book · Wiki
The relationships between teachers and textbooks are generally associated with curriculum enactment and teachers’ use of curriculum materials. Less prevalent is the association of teachers with curriculum development and textbook preparation. The aim of this chapter is to examine how the conventional relationships between teachers and textbooks may be expanded so that teachers become more genuine participants in the process of textbook development. The Integrated Mathematics Wikibook Project is used to examine how this challenge maybe addressed, focusing on the ways in which teachers participated in a unique opportunity made available to them to jointly edit a textbook they were using in class. After appraising research on the relationships between teachers and textbooks, which provide a basis for conducting this work, we describe the Integrated Mathematics Wiki-book Project, in which this research is situated. Then, we report on the ways in which teachers participated in the joint editing of a textbook they were using in class, during the first year of the project. The study reported in this part R. Even (B) · S. Olsher Weizmann Institute of Science, Rehovot, Israel e-mail: [email protected] Y. Li, G. Lappan (eds.), Mathematics Curriculum in School Education, Advances in Mathematics Education, DOI 10.1007/978-94-007-7560-2_16, © Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht 2014
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of the chapter focuses not on the changes teachers suggested for the textbook, but instead on teachers’ ways of participating in the joint editing of a textbook.
Background Research on the relationships between teachers and textbooks usually focuses on how textbooks influence classroom instruction. This research examines how teachers use curriculum materials and how a written curriculum is transformed into classroom reality (e.g., Manouchehri and Goodman 1998; Remillard 2005; Remillard et al. 2009; Stein et al. 2007). Accumulating research in a number of countries suggests that curriculum materials, textbooks in partic
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