[Maths-Education] (no subject)

[Margaret L Brown]

The 10th International Congress on Mathematics Education (ICME-10),
Copenhagen, July 4-11, 2004. 
Information about Discussion group 8: Quality and relevance in
mathematics education research
Organisers: Rosetta Zan & Margaret Brown, with Cyril Julie, Frank
Lester, Perla Nesher and Ole 
Aims and Focus
Our aim is to share knowledge and experiences in small groups to each
deepen our own understanding of how quality and relevance are, and
could be, judged in relation to mathematics education research. This
will include how, individually and collectively, we can improve the
quality of research and make it more relevant to practice. 
The discussion will enable us to draw on our experience of any
mathematics education research studies that we have read about and/or
been involved in. 
We will discuss the criteria we each use for distinguishing
outstanding pieces of research from more average research, and also
how we recognise weak research. We will consider different views with
which we are familiar about the nature, purposes and methods of
research, and how these may lead to different criteria, different
interpretations or different weightings. 
We will also look at some criteria lists in the literature and how and
why they differ. Who sets these criteria? Do they fairly reflect the
views of all stakeholders. Is there a problem of access to journals,
conferences etc. because of dominant groups? Can we encourage more
agreement and inclusion in the community?
In thinking about relevance as a criterion of quality we will try to
understand the differing concerns of policymakers, practitioners,
other stakeholders (including parents and learners), and researchers. 
We will discuss, in research we know about, how factors have in
practice constrained quality, and thus deepen our knowledge of how
conflicts about priorities can be resolved in designing, carrying out
and reporting research. 

Call for papers
Almost all the time will be devoted to small group discussion and
hence there will be no papers presented. However some relevant
existing papers about judging quality and relevance in research will
be posted on this site at a later stage that will help to inform our
discussions, and further references will be listed. 

Practical information 
Everyone is welcome – especially teachers and policymakers who may not
engage in research themselves. We will meet together only very briefly
at the start of the 2-hour sessions, and then quickly separate into
small mixed groups of about 6-8 people to discuss how we judge quality
in mathematics education research. (We will expect the groups to be
different for each session.)   A written set of questions to help
focus the group discussion will be put on the web prior to ICME and
given to all participants for each of the longer sessions.  Team
Members will circulate to offer support to the groups. We would like
everyone to contribute to their groups, and where some members are
concerned about their lack of fluency in English, groups will be asked
to encourage communication by helping with translation where possible.
We will try to make additional arrangements if there proves to be a
real communication problem. We will probably all meet together for the
final session to pull together and discuss any key issues that have
arisen. There will be no written outcome other than a short summary to
the ICME organisers. 

Programme
Session 1: Small group discussion focussing on identifying and
comparing possible criteria of quality for research in mathematics
education, and on identifying and discussing possible indicators for
such criteria. We will also discuss the relation of criteria used to
any perceived problems of access to prestigious journals, conferences
etc.
Session 2: Small group discussion focussing on the criterion of
relevance, including differing definitions of relevance reflecting
viewpoints of different stakeholders (researchers, practitioners,
policymakers, learners, parents…), and on the relationship of
relevance to other criteria. 
Session 3: Full group meeting to gather together issues and decide on
any recommendations for action.

Papers and discussion questions
These will be posted on the relevant part of the conference website
<http://www.icme-10.dk>by May 31st, 2004.

Please pass this on to anyone you think might be interested in this
group.

Margaret L Brown
mailto:margaret.brown@kcl.ac.uk