Influence of Features of Curriculum Materials on the Planned Curriculum

The study explored the verb clauses and thematic development evident in curriculum materials and in transcripts of teachers planning lessons using the materials. A central argument is that though teacher characteristics influence the ways they plan lessons with curriculum materials, the materials themselves influence teachers’ planned lessons via the ways mathematics is construed in the materials. We used verb clause and thematic analysis to analyze the features of curriculum materials and teachers’ lesson planning using those materials. We found differences between the curriculum materials in terms of how they construed mathematical activity and found that teachers’ lesson plans roughly aligned with the features in the materials; this speaks to the impact of features of curriculum materials on teachers’ lesson planning. We also found small but perceptible differences between teachers from different curriculum backgrounds, suggesting an enculturating effect from the materials.

Choppin, J., Davis, J., McDuffie A. R., & Drake, C. (2021). Influence of features of curriculum materials on the planned curriculum. ZDM – Mathematics Education, 53, 1249–1263.