Bridging the Research-Practice Gap: Developing a Pedagogical Framework that Promotes Mathematical Thinking and Understanding

Abstract

This paper documents the findings of a three-phase research project that led to the development of a teaching/learning framework for promoting thinking and understanding in mathematics classrooms. The framework characterises students and teachers as co-learners in the classroom environment, and is the result of a school/university partnership. The partnership explored pedagogical practices using “accounts of practice” that are based on teachers’ perceived reality, grounded in classroom contexts and viewed through the conceptual lenses of a researcher. The pedagogical framework contributes to a growing body of empirically based knowledge that seeks to bridge the gap between theory and practice in mathematics education.