Accessible Mathematics

最近的研究表明，残疾儿童从深度参与数学思维中受益匪浅。美国科学促进会、全国数学教师委员会和国家研究委员会等主要数学教育委员会都强调了高水平数学思维和推理对所有学生的重要性，特别是那些没有机会接触这种数学的有特殊需要的学生。这个项目基于这样的假设，即当残疾学生参与各种基于NCTM标准的活动以支持他们的优势时，他们可以学习数学思维。残疾儿童将学习以NCTM标准推荐的方式思考、制定策略和解决数学问题。为了探索如何支持残疾学生成功地发展数学思维，TERC的研究人员将与12-16名教师和研究人员合作，他们正在实施基于NCTM标准的课程，从1年级到5年级。教师将由一名主流课堂教师和一名特殊教育教师成对挑选，他们与从事基于标准的数学课程的学生一起工作。两位教师将共同努力，密切关注并寻找改善残疾学生数学思维的方法。在该项目的两年中，所有教师将定期与TERC研究人员在一个行动研究小组中会面。他们将在课堂上介绍和讨论向残疾儿童教授数学的情节，计划下一步调查学生的学习情况，并记录和传播成功发展残疾学生数学理解的策略。在该项目的最后一年，教师和TERC的研究人员将共同撰写文章，将他们的发现传播给其他教师。他们将描述特殊教育和课堂教师共同努力改善残疾儿童数学学习的方式，并将记录其他教师可以使用的成功策略。这些研究成果将以课堂实践为基础，对教师很有帮助。这一项目的工作将包括：1.建立一个由课堂和特殊教育教师组成的教师研究小组，以培养他们规划和实施课堂研究的技能，并报告和接受对他们自己的研究的反馈。通过教师对的研究，了解特定的残疾学生如何学习数学最好，以及需要什么来支持他们的学习。通过出版物、现有网站和向其他人--特别是向其他从业者--的演示，以帮助其他人更深入地了解学生的数学思维的方式，来交流这一基于课堂的研究机构。4.记录和说明学校特殊教育和课堂教师对之间的合作，以提出可供其他人使用的方法。

Recent research shows that children with disabilities benefit greatly from deep involvement in mathematical thinking. Major mathematics education committees such as the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics, and the National Research Council have emphasized the importance of high level mathematical thinking and reasoning for all students, especially those students with special needs who have not had access to this kind of mathematics. This project is based on the assumption that when students with disabilities engage in a variety of NCTM Standards-based activities that support their strengths, they can learn to think mathematically. Children with disabilities will learn to think about, strategize, and solve mathematical problems in the manner recommended by the NCTM Standards. To explore ways in which students with disabilities can be supported to successfully develop mathematical thinking, researchers at TERC will work collaboratively with a group of 12-16 teacher-researchers who are implementing an NCTM standards-based curriculum, grades 1-5. The teachers will be chosen in pairs of one mainstream classroom teacher and one special education teacher who work with the same students as they engage with standards-based mathematics curricula. The teacher pairs will work together to look closely at and find ways to improve the mathematical thinking of students with disabilities. All of the teachers will meet regularly in an action research group with TERC researchers during two years of the project. They will present and discuss episodes from their classrooms about teaching mathematics to children with disabilities, plan next steps in their investigations of students' learning, and document and disseminate the strategies that are successful in developing the mathematical understanding of students who have disabilities. In the last year of the project, teachers and TERC researchers together will write articles to disseminate their findings to other teachers. They will describe the ways in which the special education and classroom teachers work together to improve the mathematics learning of children with disabilities and will document successful strategies that other teachers can use. These research findings will be useful to teachers because they will be grounded in classroom practice. The work of this project will include: 1. Implementation of a teacher research group of classroom and special education teachers to develop their skills in planning and implementing classroom research and to report on and receive feedback on their own research.2. Research by the teacher pairs to learn how particular students with disabilities learn mathematics best, and what is needed to support their learning.3. Communication of this classroom-based body of research through publications, existing websites, and presentations to others-especially to other practitioners-in a way that helps others see more deeply into students' mathematical thinking. 4. Documentation and description of the collaboration among the special education and classroom teacher pairs in their schools to suggest approaches that can be used by others.