Towards exploring expertise in mathematics education research: What are the requirements and duties of the researchers?

Igor' Kontorovich 1 * , Orit Hazzan 1
More Detail
1 Department of Education in Technology and Science, Technion - Israel Institute of Technology, Haifa, Israel
* Corresponding Author
EUR J SCI MATH ED, Volume 2, Issue 2A, pp. 160-168. https://doi.org/10.30935/scimath/9639
OPEN ACCESS   1205 Views   694 Downloads
Download Full Text (PDF)

ABSTRACT

While considerable resources are invested in mathematics educational research and in nurturing future scholars, little is known about expertise in this field. In this paper, we explore the requirements and duties of mathematics educational researchers, as a preliminary step towards characterizing the components of their expertise. The data corpus of the study consisted of 57 position announcements for assistant and associate professor in 48 universities and 4 colleges located in thirty US states. An inductive content analysis revealed four types of requirements and duties: (1) required background in mathematics and mathematics education; (2) teaching and mentoring duties; (3) research and publishing obligations; (4) department and university duties. The implications of the findings are discussed from the perspectives of high-education programs and graduate students who are considering mathematics education research as their career track. The findings are used to formulate goals and questions for further studies.
Keywords: expertise, high-education, mathematics educational community, researchers

CITATION

Kontorovich, I., & Hazzan, O. (2014). Towards exploring expertise in mathematics education research: What are the requirements and duties of the researchers?. European Journal of Science and Mathematics Education, 2(2A), 160-168. https://doi.org/10.30935/scimath/9639

REFERENCES

  • Abu-Zaid, A., & Alkattan, K. (2013). Integration of scientific research training into undergraduate medical education: A reminder call. Medical Education Online, 18.
  • Alon, U. (2009). How to choose a good scientific problem. Molecular Cell, 35, 1.
  • Alon, U. (2010). How to build a motivated research group. Molecular Cell, 37, 151-152.
  • Carlson, M., & Bloom, I. (2005). The cyclic nature of problem solving: An emergent multidimensional problem-solving framework. Educational Studies in Mathematics, 58, 45-75.
  • Chamovitz, D. A. (2010). Lab family feud. Science, 330, 1177.
  • Chen, X., & Anderson, C. (2008). Reflections on becoming a successful researcher. Educational Psychology Review, 20(1), 65-70.
  • Clarke, M. (2004). Reconceptualising mentoring: Reflections by an early career researcher. Issues in Educational Research, 14(2), 121-143.
  • Day, A. (1996). How to get research published in journals. Aldershot, UK: Gower Press.
  • Delamont, S., Atkinson, P., & Parry, O. (2004). Supervising the PhD: A guide to success. Maidenhead, UK: SRHE and Open University press.
  • Elo, S., & Kyngas, H. (2008). The qualitative content analysis process. Journal of Advance Nursing, 62(1), 107-115.
  • Feibelman, P. J. (2011). A PhD is Not Enough: A Guide to Survival in Science. Basic Books.
  • Gordon, W. (2014). Developing scientists' "soft" skills. Eos, 95(6), 55-56.
  • Gordon, T. P., & Porter, J. C. (2009). Reading and understanding academic research in accounting: A guide for students. Global Perspective on Accounting Education, 6, 25-45.
  • Grammatikopoulos, V., Gregoriadis, A., & Zachopoulou, E. (2013). Evaluating an early childhood educators' training in six European countries. The International Journal of Innovation and Quality in Learning, 2, 15-21.
  • Hanus, P. H. (1897). The preparation of the high school teacher of mathematics. The School Review, 5, 504-518.
  • Haser, Ç, & Çakiroğlu, E. (2012). Conceptions of research and being a researcher among mathematics education doctoral students. In M. S. Hannula, P. Portaankorva-Koivistro, A. Laine, & L. Naveri (Eds.), Current State of Research on Mathematical Beliefs XVIII: Proceedings of the 18th MAVI (Mathematical Views) Conference (pp.163-174). Finnish Research Association for Subject Didactics: Helsinki, Finland.
  • Hauk, S., & Tsay, J.-J. (2013). Using cases: Experts talk about their experiences. In S. Hauk, N.M. Kung, J.-J. Tsay, & E. Hsu (Eds), Video Cases for college mathematics instructor professional development. Retrieved on February 11th, 2014 from http://collegemathvideocases.org/pdf/UsingCases.pdf.
  • ICTP (2004). One Hundred Reasons to be a Scientist. ICTP Publications & Printing Section: Trieste.
  • Jaworsky, B., Wood, T., & Dawson, S. (1999). Mathematics Teacher Education: Critical International Perspectives. Falmer Press.
  • Kontorovich, I. & Koichu, B. (in press). A case study of an expert problem poser for mathematics competition. International Journal of Science and Mathematics Education.
  • Lee, G. A., & Rolley, J. X. (2014). Early-career researchers: what's in it for us? Journal of Advanced Nursing. Retrieved on 3 February, 2014 from http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/jan.12225/pdf.
  • Liljedahl, P. (2004). The AHA! Experience: Mathematical contexts, pedagogical implications. Unpublished Ph.D thesis. Burnaby: Simon Fraser University.
  • Ma, X. (2001). Participation in advance mathematics: Do expectation and influence of students, peers, teachers, and parents matter? Contemporary Education Psychology, 26(1), 132-146.
  • Man, J. P., Weinkauf, J. G., Tsang, M., & Sin, D. D. (2004). Why do some countries publish more than others? An international comparison of research fundings, English proficiency and publication output in highly ranked general medical journals. European Journal of Epidemiology, 19(8), 811-817.
  • Newell, A., & Simon, H. A. (1972). Human Problem Solving. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall.
  • Nurius, P. S., & Kemp, S. P. (2013). Transdisciplinarity and Translation: Preparing Social Work Doctoral Students for High Impact Research. Research on Social Work Practice. Published online before print. Retrieved from http://rsw.sagepub.com/content/early/2013/11/15/1049731513512375.full.pdf+html.
  • Pavan, A. (2013). A new perspective on the quest for education: The Saudi Arabian way to knowledge society. Higher Educational Studies, 3(6), 25-34.
  • Riley, K., & Torrance, H. (2003). Big change question As national policy-makers seek to find solutions to national education issues, do international comparisons such as TIMMS and PISA create a wider understanding, or do they serve to promote the orthodoxies of international agencies? Journal of Educational Change, 4(4), 419-425.
  • Safford, T. H. (1893). Instruction in mathematics in the United States. Bulletin of the New York Mathematical Society, 3, 4-8.
  • Sales, N. (2013). Flipping the classroom: Revolutionising legal research training. Legal Information Management, 13(4), 231-235.
  • Schoenfeld, A. (1992). Learning to think mathematically: problem solving, metacognition, and sense making in mathematics. In D. A. Grows (Ed.), Handbook of research on mathematics teaching and learning (pp. 334-370). New York: Macmillan.
  • Sneider, R., & Larner, K. (2009). The Art of Being a Scientist: A Guide for Graduate Students and their Mentors. Cambridge University Press.
  • Spronken-Smith, R., Mirosa, R., & Darrou, M. (2013). 'Learning is an endless journey for anyone': Undergraduate awareness, experiences and perceptions of the research culture in a research-intensive university. Higher Educational Research & Development.
  • Strnadova, I., Cumming, T. M., Knox, M., & Parmenter, T. (2013). Building an inclusive research team: The importance of team building and skill training. Journal of Applied Research in Intellectual Disabilities, 1-10.
  • Townsend, P. (2004). Reflections on becoming a researcher: Peter Townsend interviewed by Paul Thompson. International Journal of Social Research Methodology, 7(1), 85-95.
  • Ullrich, L. E., Dumanis, S. B., Evans, T. M., Jeannotte, A. M., Gale, K., Wolfe, B. B., & Forcelli, P. A. (accepted). Educational Psychology.
  • Van Someren, M. Y., Barnard, Y. F., & Sandberg, J. A. C. (1994). The think aloud method: A practical guide to modeling cognitive processes. London: Academic Press.
  • Ward, A. (2013). How well are we meeting the educational expectations of EIE students? Proceedings of the IETEC'13 Conference. Retrieved on November 21 from http://www.ietec-conference.com/ietec13/conferenceproceedings2013/papers/Wendesday/WP2/WP2.1_submission_53.pdf. Ho Chi Minh City: Vietnam.
  • Weber, K. (2008). How mathematicians determine if an argument is a valid proof. Journal for Research in Mathematics Education, 39, 431-459.
  • Zaslavsky, O., &Leikin, R. (2004). Professional development of mathematics teachers educators: Growth through practice. Journal of Mathematics Teachers Education, 7(1), 5-32.
  • Zazkis, R., & Zazkis, D. (2011). The significance of mathematical knowledge in teaching elementary methods courses: perspectives of mathematics teacher educators. Educational Studies in Mathematics, 76(3), 247-263.