What is Teaching Here? The Development of Identities for Teaching Across Institutional Contexts (SPENCER FELLOW)

The study will examine how creating opportunities for students to engage consequentially with mathematics supports the dispositions they develop towards the domain. The hypothesis is that creating opportunities for students to engage consequentially with content will lead to productive dispositions towards mathematics by supporting practices of meaningful disciplinary engagement and the development of a notion of oneself as someone whose actions can have impact. The role of consequentiality will be investigated through a comparison of two project-based mathematics curricula. By documenting how aspects of curricular designs impact student engagement with mathematical ideas, and the role of these designs in the development of more enduring dispositions, this study will contribute to educational research by supporting a deeper understanding of which aspects of instructional methods are most effective for what purpose, under which circumstances, and for whom (c.f. Gresalfi & Lester, in press).