Objectives: This study examined an online and blended professional learning community (PLC) of mathematics teachers and the role of sociocultural practices in its constitution and sustainability. The last decade has been marked by efforts to institutionalize PLCs in teacher education. However, a gap exists in the literature on how PLCs are constructed and sustained, especially for PLCs that are hybrid in nature, consisting of online activities, social media, and face-to-face interactions.

Objective & Theoretical Framework: The Proportions Playground project is concerned with how dynamic mathematical environments promote teachers’ mathematical reasoning. Specifically, this is an exploratory project aimed at understanding how to promote reasoning about proportional situations and the role dynamic environments have in that effort. We work from a knowledge in pieces perspective (diSessa, 2006), which posits that people develop understanding in the form of fine-grained knowledge resources. These resources are refined and interconnected as expertise develops.

Purpose: This exploratory grant was a design study to develop professional learning activities (e.g. face-to-face, online) to help teachers use available and emerging social media to teach scientific argumentation. A research team of freshman and sophomore (grades 9-10) Life Science teachers collaborating as co-researchers with project staff investigated how particular social media (e.g. Twitter, Edmodo, Facebook, Wikis, blogs, etc.) facilitated scientific argumentation.

Objectives: It is well established that professional development (PD) is effective when learning opportunities are 1) closely connected to teachers’ classroom practice, supporting new practices in context, and 2) collaborative, enabling teachers to experiment with and reflect on new practices together (Authors, 2013a; Ball & Cohen, 1999; Cochran-Smith & Lytle, 1999; Darling-Hammond & Richardson, 2009; Grossman, Hammerness, & McDonald, 2009).

Significance, Objectives, and Theoretical Framework: The ever-increasing population of English Learner students (ELs) urgently needs opportunities to learn mathematical content in ways that emphasize mathematical communication and reasoning. Unfortunately, teachers are not consistently trained in how to support ELs to meet content standards (Bunch, 2013; Wei, Darling-Hammond, & Adamson, 2010).

Objective: The Next Generation Science Standards affirm an important vision for science education: Science for all students (AAAS, 1994; NRC, 2012b). In this vision, teachers engage students in three-dimensional (3D) learning by braiding scientific content with scientific and engineering practices and crosscutting concepts while fostering inclusive science classrooms. This approach aims to provide opportunities for all students to develop and use knowledge to make sense of phenomena experienced in their world and find solutions to problems (NRC, 2012b).

Objectives: We designed and studied an online, video-based, lesson analysis professional development (PD) course focused on energy concepts. The first goal of the project was to enhance teacher knowledge and practice related to energy concepts to ultimately improve student learning. The second goal was to study the promise of efficacy of the various components of the course in enhancing teacher knowledge and practice and student achievement. 

Do teachers learn from classroom video clips on an online professional development site beyond what they indicate in the posted commentary? By comparing quantitative web usage data plus coded online video comments to qualitative interview data from 41 users of the Everyday Mathematics Virtual Learning Community (VLC), we hope to understand what, and to what extent, individual users learn from video online.

Objectives & Perspectives: This project addresses a fundamental challenge for professional development––how to support teachers to improve their practice. Decades of research have demonstrated that many common approaches to professional development do not adequately support improvements in teachers’ capabilities (e.g., Cohen & Hill, 2001; Garet et. al, 2001; Tyler, 1971). In response, there has been increasing momentum around developing new and different forms of professional development.