There is a need for a more robust conceptualization of engagement in mathematics education research. Investigating how teachers describe engagement can provide insight into relationships between purposes of engagement and dimensions of engagement. In this exploratory study, we examined how 28 secondary mathematics teachers in two states in the USA talked about their students' engagement. During interviews, we asked teachers to provide their definitions for engagement, describe their teaching strategies for engaging students, and describe their observations of engagement during a video clip from their own classroom. We interpreted teachers' talk to identify how they described the nature of mathematics engagement (dimensions such as behavioral, cognitive, affective, and/or social engagement) and purposes of engagement (engagement in learning or in schooling [Harris, 2011]). When teachers described the purpose of engagement as engagement in learning, they also tended to describe the nature of engagement with cognitive and social dimensions and with multiple dimensions of engagement.
We explore the epistemological issues that arise when considering STEM as a curricular and instructional construct. Our approach is somewhat unique in that we are not focused on the curricular or instructional boundaries of STEM education, but consider the nature of the cognitive activity at play during STEM-focused activity, with an emphasis on mathematical thinking. We focus specifically on the epistemological underpinnings of mathematics and other STEM disciplines, and the possibility of an epistemology of STEM as a curricular construct. The im lica ion on den STEM a of hinking (SWoT) a e di c ed in de ail f om a theoretical and empirical lens. Future research directions are identified.
We present the results of our analysis regarding the discursive tendencies of four mathematics coaches during planning and debriefing conversations within online coaching cycles. Guided by the Content-Focused model of coaching (West & Cameron, 2013), the coaching cycles are a single component of a larger online professional development model for middle school mathematics teachers in rural areas (Choppin, Amador, & Callard, 2015). This paper explores the different ways coaches talk with teachers during coaching conversations. Building on prior studies from literacy coaching (Ippolito, 2010), we found five different discursive moves for how coaches talk with teachers: invitation, suggestion, explanation, description, and evaluation. We use these moves to identify similarities and differences in the discursive tendencies of coaches. The implications of these discursive tendencies are provided.
