Transforming Mathematics Teaching Practice in Egypt

1. Mathematics Education Around the World: Bridging Policy and PracticePark City Mathematics Institute International Conference. July 14-18, 2002. Jean Michel Hanna French Center of Culture and Cooperation in Cairo EGYPT nouraj@hotmail.com

2. IN-SERVICE TRAINING IN EGYPT Training Program For Teachers and Inspectors of Mathematics In Primary Schools 1995-1998 PCMI 2002 Jean Michel Hanna

3. Outline • Introduction. • Principal features of the training program. • Short description of the three phases of the program. • Results. • Some difficulties. • General remarks. PCMI 2002 Jean Michel Hanna

4. Introduction Adding information or reorganizing pre-existing knowledge for a teacher is not a hard task. PCMI 2002 Jean Michel Hanna

5. Introduction • But what is challenging is to change teachers’ practice in classrooms according to certain philosophy. PCMI 2002 Jean Michel Hanna

6. Trainer training training ? Pupil Teacher teaching PCMI 2002 Jean Michel Hanna

7. The present experience can be considered an attempt to give a practical solution for the problem ofchanging teachers’ practice. PCMI 2002 Jean Michel Hanna

8. Principal features of the program • The group of trainees consists of teachers and inspectors working together. • The total period of the program is three school years, divided in three phases. • In the first phase, I used “non-traditional” methods of studying mathematics. • In the second phase, the trainees observed, analyzed and criticized the classroom practice of some other teachers. • In the third phase, the trainees observed, analyzed and criticized their own classroom practice. PCMI 2002 Jean Michel Hanna

9. Short description of the three phases PCMI 2002 Jean Michel Hanna

10. First phase PCMI 2002 Jean Michel Hanna

11. The main purpose of this phase is to allow the trainees to modify their “model of teaching”. PCMI 2002 Jean Michel Hanna

12. To achieve this goal, I tried to create a new relationship between trainees and mathematics, through studying mathematics “differently” for enough time. PCMI 2002 Jean Michel Hanna

13. I assume that the trainees way of teaching is initially influenced by the way they have been taught. Therefore, I gave special attention to the choice of the content, and used “non-classical” methods of treating this content. PCMI 2002 Jean Michel Hanna

14. Examples of the type of content - Open problems. - Games. - Activities. - Creating new problems and sub-problems. PCMI 2002 Jean Michel Hanna

15. Examples of the methods used - Working in small groups. - Self-learning. - Participating in analyzing and evaluating the work done. PCMI 2002 Jean Michel Hanna

16. At the end of this phase (140 hours), trainees are supposed to have “other” conceptions of learning and teaching mathematics. • This is a necessary condition for the required modification, but not a sufficient one. PCMI 2002 Jean Michel Hanna

17. Second Phase PCMI 2002 Jean Michel Hanna

18. In this phase, the work was focused on teachers’ practice. PCMI 2002 Jean Michel Hanna

19. In each training session( 4 hours ) • The trainees are asked to : - Watch a previously taped classroom lesson. - Analyze this lesson according to some given questions. - Write down (individually) their comments. PCMI 2002 Jean Michel Hanna

20. Second phase Afterwards, individual presentations took place, followed by a general discussion. PCMI 2002 Jean Michel Hanna

21. In this way every one finds the occasion to: - Express his/her ideas and conceptions explicitly. • - Confront his/her analysis with those of others. PCMI 2002 Jean Michel Hanna

22. - Hear and discuss the point of view of the specialists in mathematics education according to the results of research in this domain. PCMI 2002 Jean Michel Hanna

23. At the end of this phase (100 hours) trainees are supposed to have acquired new criteria to judge the quality of mathematics teaching. PCMI 2002 Jean Michel Hanna

24. Third phase PCMI 2002 Jean Michel Hanna

25. This phase was mainly focused on teachers and based on the “self-image” of their practice in classrooms, while inspectors participated only in the common discussion, on the previously agreed criteria. PCMI 2002 Jean Michel Hanna

26. Each teacher was asked to : • - Prepare a classroom lesson. • - Discuss his/her preparation in front of the group. • - Do any necessary modifications. • - Teach this lesson in classroom in my presence. PCMI 2002 Jean Michel Hanna

27. By means of a video - camera we filmed each of these lessons. • After each lesson I stayed with the trainees individually to watch the film, and to discuss his/her comments and self-evaluation, specially the determination of differences between the previously prepared plan and what has happened with him in a real classroom. PCMI 2002 Jean Michel Hanna

28. Results - Radical changes in the way of teaching of almost 70% of the trainees were obvious. PCMI 2002 Jean Michel Hanna

29. These changes consisted mainly of : - Changing the nature of their questions to the pupils, and the way of responding to the answers. - Using different methods based on pupils’ activities. PCMI 2002 Jean Michel Hanna

30. - Having more freedom to choose some additional problems, which demand some sort of stretch of the imagination. - Giving more attention to observing and interpreting pupils’ errors and behavior. PCMI 2002 Jean Michel Hanna

31. Some difficulties There were some obstacles that hindered the required changes of teachers’ practice in classrooms (the remaining 30%). PCMI 2002 Jean Michel Hanna

32. Examples of these limitations - Influence of teachers’ colleagues working in the same school, specially the senior teachers. PCMI 2002 Jean Michel Hanna

33. - Rigid programs and centralized system of education in Egypt do not allow enough freedom for the teacher. PCMI 2002 Jean Michel Hanna

34. - Parents’ expectations from teachers. (only to help their children to obtain higher grades in exams) PCMI 2002 Jean Michel Hanna

35. - The individual meetings with teachers in the third phase took longer time than expected (about 150 hours for 24 trainees). PCMI 2002 Jean Michel Hanna

36. General remarks • The participation of some inspectors with the teachers made situations more realistic, and helped each side to understand the other’s point of view. PCMI 2002 Jean Michel Hanna

37. - Differences between trainees’ backgrounds had been observed during different phases of the program (specially the second one). These differences have had positive influence, and made discussion much richer. PCMI 2002 Jean Michel Hanna

38. - No special type of teaching had been recommended. Each trained teacher started with what he/she thought promising. PCMI 2002 Jean Michel Hanna

39. - It will be beneficial to organize a follow up program for these trainees. PCMI 2002 Jean Michel Hanna

40. Last and not least There is a need to evaluate the whole program in terms of possibility of its generalization and its effect in introducing qualitative change of “traditional” teaching. PCMI 2002 Jean Michel Hanna

41. Every time a mind is stretched, it can never go back where it started. PCMI 2002 Jean Michel Hanna