This project will develop a sustained collaboration between the mathematics education research and professional teaching communities for the purpose of interpreting and disseminating knowledge about effective mathematics instruction in the elementary and middle school grades. A major goal of the project is to develop and communicate usable knowledge to career teachers about how mathematics in elementary and middle school is learned and how it may be taught more effectively. A parallel goal is the development of a form of communication between researches and teachers that will support thoughtful and continuing use of research in improving instructional practice. Two types of products will emerge from this project, specific written materials and a model for the dissemination of research findings that should effect teaching. The written materials will include: Synthesis chapters, written by teams of mathematics educators and cognitive researchers, that will summarize current research knowledge about mathematics topics relevant to grades 3-8; Research translations, written by expert teachers, that will be used as resources for teachers to learn elementary mathematics in a form tied directly to the school curriculum and to problems and opportunities for teaching; Training materials, developed by expert teachers, that will apply the research findings to actual classroom practice, by providing material for reflection, discussion, and teacher planning of instruction. The model developed by the project will demonstrate a means of bringing research findings to practicing educators via a professional development network supported by a major teachers' union. The channels of communication opened and developed by this project can be effectively used to bring instructional research to the classroom, while at the same time bringing the knowledge and experience of teaching professions to the attention of mathematics researchers and educators.
