Primary Sources and Professional Growth: A Phenomenological Study of University Mathematics Instructors

• Other Authors: Can, Cihan (author)
• Format: Others
• Language: English; English
• Published: Florida State University
• Subjects: Mathematics > Study and teaching
• Online Access: http://purl.flvc.org/fsu/fd/2019_Fall_Can_fsu_0071E_15541

My goal in this study was to investigate the role of primary source projects (PSPs) on instructor growth regarding the post-secondary mathematics teaching. A PSP is a curricular material that aims to guide students reading of primary historical sources through some tasks and secondary narrative by the author of the PSP (Barnett, Lodder, & Pengelley, 2014). This study was primarily motivated by university mathematics instructors’ growing interest in using PSPs for some part of their teaching through their participation in the National Science Foundation-funded Transforming Instruction in Undergraduate Mathematics via Primary Historical Sources (TRIUMPHS) project. In this regard, an examination of instructor’s experiences with PSPs in a textbook-dominated field as undergraduate mathematics instruction has the potential to respond to the recent calls by major mathematical institutions’ for improving the quality of instruction at the undergraduate level (Saxe & Braddy, 2015). In this phenomenologically grounded study, I explored the interactions of two mathematics instructors who taught with the PSP, “Solving a System of Linear Equations Using Ancient Chinese Methods” (SSLE; Flagg, 2018) to investigate if, and how, such interactions contribute to the professional growth of instructors. One of the participants is the author of the PSP and the other one was a first-time user of the material. I used semi-structured interviews, instructors’ responses to the open-ended items in TRIUMPHS surveys, and their CVs as the data collection methods to understand their engagement with SSLE, and the role of such engagements on their professional growth. I used the Interconnected Model (Clarke & Hollingsworth, 2002) to document the changes that instructors reported as a result of using the PSP for their teaching, where I derived conclusions regarding instructors’ professional growth. PSP engagement had significant impact on Dr. Flagg’s and Dr. Edward’s classroom teaching, participation to scholarly activities, and hence contributing to their professional growth. In my detailed analysis of data, I observed that what both instructors considered prior to their PSP engagement as salient outcomes of mathematical learning experience had a pivotal role on the changes that they experienced as a result of their PSP engagement. === A Dissertation submitted to the School of Teacher Education in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy. === 2019 === November 7, 2019. === Curriculum materials, Instructor growth, Primary historical sources, Professional development, Undergraduate mathematics education === Includes bibliographical references. === Kathleen M. Clark, Professor Directing Dissertation; Fengfeng Ke, University Representative; Christine Andrews-Larson, Committee Member; John P. Myers, Committee Member.