Kazemi to Study Teacher Prep for Math Education

Elham Kazemi

Elham Kazemi is co-PI of a new project funded by the Spencer Foundation, titled  "Teacher Learning In, From, and For Ambitious Practice." Kazemi is an associate professor in curriculum and instruction at the UW College of Education. She received an M.A. and Ph.D. in mathematics education from the University of California-Los Angeles and a B.S. in psychology from Duke University. Her current teaching and research focus on mathematics education.

Along with Megan Franke, professor at UCLA Graduate School of Education and Information Studies, and Magdalene Lampet, professor at the University of Michigan School of Education, Kazemi will be working on this project to study novice teacher learning in elementary mathematics.

The project takes on teacher preparation, specifically, "whether and how teacher preparation in a university context might be designed and enacted to address the problem of learning the practices of ambitious mathematics teaching, given that it is not an established practice."

Their three research foci include:

Research focus 1: The enactment of the design
How can we construct a curriculum and design for instruction for teaching ambitious practice that takes into account the need for novices to both accumulate new knowledge and skills and be able to use them appropriately in classroom contexts? How can we enact that curriculum and instructional design in ways that university teacher educators can teach novices to do ambitious mathematics teaching? 

Research focus 2: The learning of practice by prospective teachers
As this approach to teacher education curriculum and instruction is enacted, how do intending teachers learn the work of ambitious mathematics teaching? What do they learn, in terms of practices, knowledge, and skills, and how to use them in ways that are adapted to particular learners?

Research focus 3: The learning of teacher educators
As this approach to teacher education curriculum and instruction is enacted what do teacher educators learn? What are the institutional constraints and affordances on their learning opportunities and their practice?