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Teacher curriculum competence : how teachers act in curriculum making

  • Authors: Tran, Dung , O’Connor, Bronwyn
  • Date: 2024
  • Type: Text , Journal article
  • Relation: Journal of Curriculum Studies Vol. 56, no. 1 (2024), p. 1-16
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  • Description: This conceptual paper puts forward the construct termed teacher curriculum competence, which is an amalgamation of theoretical or formal and personal practical teacher knowledge and orientations in relation to curriculum. We situate the competence in institutional, political, and philosophical contexts. Drawing on research related to mathematics curriculum at different stages (i.e. the official, intended, and enacted curriculum) and teacher competence frameworks, we elaborate on how a teacher interacts with curriculum informed by their knowledge and orientations. When working with curriculum, teacher curriculum competence refers to what teachers attend to and how they interpret curriculum, as well as why they make decisions, including when to introduce particular concepts or skills, based on their local students’ needs. In addition, we argue that the process of interacting with curriculum helps shape teacher knowledge and orientations. This article is significant for the contribution it makes to conceptualizing teacher curriculum competence in a centralized curriculum system, that is a nationally mandated. Although we use the mathematics discipline as an example, implications for research in promising areas for future studies in this space are also discussed. © 2023 The Author(s). Published by Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group.

Designing massive open online courses for educators around the world: the case of teaching statistics

  • Authors: Tran, Dung , Lee, Hollylynne
  • Date: 2016
  • Type: Text , Conference paper
  • Relation: 9th Australian Conference on Teaching Statistics: Satellite to ASC 2016 Australian Statistical Conference; Canberra, Australia Duration: 8 Dec 2016 published in Proceedings of the 9th Australian Conference on Teaching Statistics p. 77-82
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  • Description: Statistics receives attention through global curriculum. Some have designed professional development for teachers to develop their statistical content and pedagogy, typically on a small local scale. Online courses can expand the number of teachers involved and create communities beyond school or district lines. For a “massive” and “open” course, there are many design challenges to meet the needs of participants with varied backgrounds in teaching statistics. We will share how a Massive Open Online Course for Educators (MOOC Ed) designed in the USA, but offered and taken by educators from around the world, including Australia and New Zealand, presents design challenges for how to best impact teachers’ learning and classroom practices. For this paper, we will focus on course design principles, the design and implementation of a framework for supporting students’ approaches to statistical investigations and a task guide to assist teachers in evaluating, designing, and implementing worthwhile statistical tasks. We will share participants’ engagement with the course and evidence we have collected suggesting impacts on their classroom practice.

Operationalize mathematical sophistication in a collaborative problem-solving: a conceptual paper

  • Authors: Tran, Dung , Munro, John
  • Date: 2019
  • Type: Text , Conference paper
  • Relation: Annual Conference of the Mathematics Education Research Group of Australasia (42nd : 2019) - Curtin Unversity, Perth, Australia Duration: 30 Jun 2019 p. 723-730
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  • Description: This conceptual paper proposes a model to describe the quality of student dialogue during participative collaborative problem solving. Drawing on the participation metaphor of learning, we argue that the construct of mathematical sophistication is useful to describe the quality. We then present two frameworks, mathematical competencies and mathematical practices, as ways to operationalise the construct in the collaborative problem-solving setting. We argue that by using a networking theories approach, the two frameworks will provide nuances of levels of mathematical sophistication that can be observed in student interaction. In addition, they could provide an analysis of both individual and group contributions to mathematical sophistication in a collaborative task setting. Implications of using two approaches for conceptualising mathematical sophistication for future mathematics education research and teaching practices are provided.

Measuring agency in mathematics collaborative problem solving

Examining non-traditional pathways preservice teachers’ attitudes towards mathematics

  • Authors: Tran, Dung , Jave, Syed
  • Date: 2017
  • Type: Text , Conference proceedings
  • Relation: MERGA 40; Melbourne; 2-6 July 2017 Vol. 34 (1), p. 503 - 516
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  • Description: In this study, we examined non-traditional pathway preservice teachers’ attitudes towards mathematics to inform decision-making on designing the course and the units related to mathematics and how to support the teachers in transitioning smoothly into higher education programs. We adopted a mixed design approach to document teachers’ attitudes towards mathematics. Results show that the teachers revealed positive attitudes towards their mathematical self-ability of the subject, the enjoyment of mathematics, and the utility of the subject

Developing teachers’ reasoning about comparing distributions: a cross-institutional effort

Examination of bivariate data tasks in us high school textbooks through the statistical investigation and cognitive demands frameworks

  • Authors: Tran, Dung , Tarr, James
  • Date: 2018
  • Type: Text , Journal article
  • Relation: International journal of science and mathematics education Vol. 16, no. 8 (2018), p. 1581-1603
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  • Description: Through the lenses of statistical investigations and cognitive demands, we examined bivariate data tasks offered in US high school mathematics textbook series—a popular representative of three curriculum types: traditional, integrated, and hybrid. We developed a framework grounded in literature of association topics for the inclusion and exclusion of tasks. Using the Guidelines for Assessment and Instruction of Statistics Education (GAISE) framework, textbook tasks were coded for four investigation components (formulate questions, collect data, analyze data, and interpret results) and levels of statistical sophistication, as well as levels of cognitive demand as suggested by the Mathematical Complexity framework. Across the three series 582 statistical association tasks, all components of statistical investigation were evident with different levels of treatment: (a) all questions for statistical investigations were provided by textbook authors (b) tasks rarely afforded student opportunities to collect data and (c) nearly all of the tasks required students to analyze data and most required them to interpret results. Tasks in the integrated series were more numerous ( n  = 246) and required higher levels of mathematical complexity and statistical sophistication than tasks in the traditional and hybrid series. The vast majority of tasks were coded at the GAISE Level B for analyze data and interpret results and moderate level for mathematical complexity. Further analyses show the concordance between the developmental levels for statistical sophistication and mathematical complexity. Suggestions for curriculum development, content analysis, and future research are provided.

Mathematical modelling competency of mathematics pre-service teachers in the technology environment

Bridging to mathematical modelling: Vietnamese students' response to different levels of authenticity in contextualized tasks

  • Authors: Tran, Dung , Nguyen, Duyen , Nguyen, An , Nguyen, Giang-Nguyen , Ta, Phuong
  • Date: 2020
  • Type: Text , Journal article
  • Relation: International journal of mathematical education in science and technology Vol. 51, no. 6 (2020), p. 893-912
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  • Description: To address the upcoming reform curriculum initiative following competency-based learning in Vietnam, this study examines how variations of a contextualized task allow students to experience the mathematical modelling process. We explore how Grade 10 students respond to tasks with different levels of authenticity when they first attempt such tasks. Adapting the Theory of Authentic Task Situations, we designed variations of the Goat Cage task and implemented them with six small groups of students. Results showed that the modelling processes that the students progressed through differed in mathematical models used and real-world considerations, with diverse approaches when solving the more-authentic variation. Not all phases of the modelling process were observed explicitly when they engaged in the tasks. Students showed a positive disposition towards tasks with more authentic contextual information. The study suggests ways to adapt contextualized tasks to make them more authentic, which allows students to experience a holistic modelling process.

Analysis of curriculum standards: an important research area

  • Authors: Tran, Dung , Reys, Barbara , Teuscher, Dawn , Dingman, Shannon , Kasmer, Lisa
  • Date: 2016
  • Type: Text , Journal article
  • Relation: Journal for Research in Mathematics Education Vol. , no. (2016), p. 118-133
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  • Description: This commentary highlights the contribution that careful and systematic analyses of curriculum or content standards can make to questions and issues important in the mathematics education field. We note the increased role that curriculum standards have played as part of a standards-based education reform strategy. We also review different methods used by researchers to compare and analyze the Common Core State Standards for Mathematics, each method designed for a particular purpose. Finally, we call upon mathematics education researchers to engage in careful analysis of curriculum standards and to share their findings in ways that can inform public debate as well as support education professionals in improving student learning opportunities.

Preparing preservice teachers to teach mathematical literacy: a reform in a teacher education program

High school students’ covariational reasoning in interpreting dynamic situations

  • Authors: Tran, Dung
  • Date: 2018
  • Type: Text , Conference proceedings
  • Relation: 8th ICMI-East Asia Regional Conference on Mathematics Education in ICMI-EARCOME8: Proceedings of the 8th ICMI-East Asia Regional Conference on Mathematics Education Vol. 2, p. 174-181
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  • Description: In recent years, school mathematics has increased its emphasis on functions and functional relationships in dynamic situations (Carlson, Jacobs, Coe, Larsen, & Hu, 2002). Secondary school mathematics curricula support the promotion of conceptual understanding on functions including patterns of change to help student understand the fundamental ideas of calculus (Zeytun, Cetinkaya, & Erbas, 2010). However, research has suggested that undergraduate students show their weak understanding of functions while entry-level university courses do little to address this deficiency. Research on students’ understanding of functions has revealed that even high-performing students have difficulty modeling functional relationships of dynamic functional events. Their difficulties resulted from the lack of abilities in imagining and coordinating the simultaneous changes in variables, namely in determining the rate of change of one variable as it continuously varies in a dependent relationship with another variable (Carlson et al., 2002). This type of abilities is known as covariational reasoning, which involves imagining and coordinating the changes in two quantities simultaneously (Carlson et al., 2002). Dynamic functional situations are recommended to be used in order to promote students’ understanding about the relationship between the rate of change and covariant aspects of functions (Carlson et al., 2002). Many studies were conducted to investigate undergraduate students’ covariational reasoning abilities (eg, Carlson et al., 2002; Johnson, McClintock, & Hornbein, 2017) and prospective and in-service teachers’ covariational reasoning (Yemen-Karpuzcu, Ulusoy, & Işıksal-Bostan 2017; Zeytun et al., 2010), paucity of research is done to explore secondary school students’ covariational reasoning and little is known about their reasoning about the covariant aspects of function in dynamic situations. Therefore, this paper has explored high school students’ covariational reasoning in solving tasks about dynamic situations involving two simultaneously changing quantities. The focus was on students’ ability to reason about covarying quantities and their difficulties in interpreting dynamic functional situations.

Using a multidisciplinary, multi-method and collaborative research design to investigate the health communication power of the early childhood sector

  • Authors: Degotardi, Sheila , Waniganayake, Manjula , Bull, Rebecca , Wong, Sandie , Dahm, Maria , Hadley, Fay , Harrison, Linda , Sadow, Lauren , Amin, Janaki , Donovan, Michael , Tran, Dung , Zurynski, Yvonne
  • Date: 2022
  • Type: Text , Journal article
  • Relation: Australasian journal of early childhood Vol. 47, no. 4 (2022), p. 245-259
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  • Description: This paper details the research design of a multidisciplinary, multi-method, collaborative research project investigating health communication from the experiences of the early childhood education (ECE) sector during the COVID-19 pandemic. With the rapidly evolving pandemic, the ECE sector was instantly tasked with expanding their required health practices to prevent the spread of infection. It was evident that the sector needed a system to communicate health advice in a timely, consistent and effective manner. Founded on a partnership model based on 'knowledge brokering' theory, this project demonstrates the value of a multidisciplinary research team collaborating with stakeholder organisations to investigate how COVID-19 health information traversed through complexities of organisational layers and diverse communities of families and staff. Detailing our data collection and analysis protocols, we conclude by outlining how our innovative research design is generating actionable and impactful recommendations for both the ECE and health sectors. [Author abstract]

Examining mathematical sophistications in collaborative problem solving

  • Authors: Tran, Dung , Chan, Man Ching
  • Date: 2017
  • Type: Text , Conference proceedings
  • Relation: 41st Conference of the International Group for the Psychology of Mathematics Education. Singapore, Singapore: International Group for the Psychology of Mathematics. pp. 281-288
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  • Description: This paper reports on efforts to characterise levels of mathematical sophistication for students in collaborative mathematics problem solving. Using a laboratory classroom in Australia, data were captured with multiple cameras and audio inputs. Students worked individually, in pairs, and in small groups (4 to 6 students). We focused on investigating collaborative work, with the goal of studying the mathematical sophistications of students’ reasoning when solving problems. Drawing from two analytical frameworks to document the mathematical sophistication in students’ exchange, levels of cognitive demands and mathematical practices, this research highlights different aspects of students’ reasoning in solving these tasks.

Statistical Association: Alignment of current U.S. High school textbooks with the common core state standards for mathematics

  • Authors: Tran, Dung
  • Date: 2016
  • Type: Text , Journal article
  • Relation: School Science and Mathematics Vol. 116, no. 5 (2016), p. 286-296
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  • Description: This study examined the alignment of three selected U.S. high school textbooks series with the Common Core State Standards for Mathematics (CCSSM) regarding the treatment of statistical association. A framework grounded in the literature for inclusion and exclusion of reasoning about association topics was developed, and textbook entries were compared with the CCSSM learning expectations (LEs). Across the three series, about 77–90% of the 582 association problems addressed two numerical variables. All CCSSM LEs were covered by two of the three series. However, additional association LEs not found in the CCSSM were included in the textbooks. Implications for curriculum revision and development, and content analysis are suggested. The study challenges the notion of CCSSM‐aligned curricula.

The role of probability in developing learners’ models of simulation approaches to inference

  • Authors: Lee, Hollylynne , Doerr, Helen , Tran, Dung , Lovett, Jennifer
  • Date: 2016
  • Type: Text , Journal article
  • Relation: Statistics education research journal Vol. 15, no. 2 (2016), p.
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  • Description: Repeated sampling approaches to inference that rely on simulations have recently gained prominence in statistics education, and probabilistic concepts are at the core of this approach. In this approach, learners need to develop a mapping among the problem situation, a physical enactment, computer representations, and the underlying randomization and sampling processes. We explicate the role of probability in this approach and draw upon a models and modeling perspective to support the development of teachers’ models for using a repeated sampling approach for inference. We explicate the model development task sequence and examine the teachers’ representations of their conceptualizations of a repeated sampling approach for inference. We propose key conceptualizations that can guide instruction when using simulations and repeated sampling for drawing inferences.

Changes in lesson plans as teachers participate in a professional development on statistical literacy

  • Authors: Tran, Dung , Nguyen, An , Nguyen, Duyen , Ta, Phuong , Pham, Nga , Huynh, Binh
  • Date: 2023
  • Type: Text , Journal article
  • Relation: International Journal of Learning, Teaching and Educational Research Vol. 22, no. 5 (2023), p. 281-301
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  • Description: Research on mathematics teacher knowledge has gained momentum recently; however, research on teacher planning is scarce, especially using lesson plans as the primary data source. This study examines how teachers' lesson plans change as they participate in a professional development, supporting them in implementing the Vietnamese reformed Curriculum 2018. Using a design-based research methodology, we developed a research-informed framework that assesses teachers' lesson plans for developing students' statistical literacy as emphasized in the mathematics Curriculum. Informed by research literature and data collected from teachers, the framework including seven criteria was shared and used by 61 teachers to reflect on the quality of their lessons. The analysis of 38 lesson plans shows all criteria have improved from pre- to post-lesson plans. The teachers included more explicit and comprehensive learning intentions in their post-lessons. Tasks in the post-lesson plans afforded more opportunities for students to develop statistical literacy, helped them engage in the statistical investigation using real data, and included multiple representations. Finally, the post-lesson plans tended to follow the constructivist teaching principles. Implications on ways to develop teachers' planning competence and suggestions for future studies are included. © 2023 Authors.
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