What the Center's Research Initiative Does
Coordinated from its base in McCracken Hall, home to Ohio University's College of Education, ACCLAIM's Research Initiative:
- leads the Center's research effort, conceptually and organizationally;
- manages the Center's varied research activities;
- supports ACCLAIM scholars as they engage the Center's research agenda;
- shares research about rural mathematics education with all the world (via the Research Clearinghouse located on this website).
Why We Care
- We like rural places and people.
- We like rural ways of life.
- 60% of US school districts are located in rural places (open country and small towns).
- 40% of US schools are located in rural places.
- 30% of US students attend schools located in rural places.
- Mathematics is useful and beautiful.
- Rural people need mathematics.
- Rural places need their people to do math well.
The Center's National Study: 2006-2009
As of September 1, 2006, the Center has begun work on a national study of rural place-based mathematics education practice, based on the Center's articulated research agenda (see below). The new study addresses teaching question #3, policy question #4, and culture question #2.
We are seeking approximately 10 sites in varied rural communities across the nation in which at least one teacher is making connections between the mathematics curriculum and the local rural community. Site identification is on-going as of the update of this page.
The Center's Research Agenda (12 Questions)
The Center has adopted four principles to represent its approach to mathematics education in rural places. The Center's Management Team believes that the Center's research should:
- describe the salient relationships between mathematical knowledge and rural context;
- examine rural schools as they serve or subvert the development of mathematical knowledge and expertise within the rural lifeworld;
- examine hypotheses about the place occupied by mathematics knowledge in and (prospectively) for rural communities; and,
- elaborate theories of, and knowledge about, pedagogy of place for mathematics education in rural schools.
Based on these principles, Center scholars, working with suggestions from dozens of allied scholars and projects, developed a set of 12 generative questions during the fall of 2004 (see Working Paper No. 16, An Initial Agenda for Rural Mathematics Education Research, for a full account of how these questions were developed):
Questions Involving Teaching
- What factors foster competent mathematics teaching in rural settings?
- What conditions contribute to out-of-field teaching of mathematics in rural schools?
- To what extent are mathematics instructional approaches and assessment practices consonant with the needs of rural communities?
Questions Involving Policy
- How does the rural circumstance influence the dynamics of improvement in mathematics education?
- Why do mathematics teachers seek or remain in positions in rural schools?
- What is the impact of the implementation of mathematics reform efforts in rural areas?
- How do local educators develop mathematically relevant connections with rural communities?
Questions Involving Culture
1. What roles do various forms of social and cultural capital play in mathematics teaching and learning in rural places?
2. In what ways is mathematics education in rural areas oriented with respect to place and community?
3. How do school and community cultures socialize mathematics teachers in rural schools?
4. In what ways is mathematics education in rural areas oriented with respect to place and community?
5. What is the adult experience of mathematically talented rural students?
These 12 questions specify the current scope of the ACCLAIM research agenda. The questions are "generative" in the sense that, taken together, they have the capacity to generate a wide range of inquiries that honor the common good that mathematical knowledge might serve in rural places.
Please see the Working Paper No. 16 for 48 illustrative "sub-questions."
Invitation to Publish with the Center
The Center invites anyone who engages its research agenda to publish with its Research Initiative. Relevant work may include doctoral research (including dissertations); teacher research (action research, reflective essays); or thoughtful journalism. Consult Working Paper No. 16 and the Theoretical Framework for guidance. Also be sure to scan the existing titles to develop a sense of what interests the Center, and contact Craig Howley if you have an idea for a publication that honors the Center's commitments.
Due to changed fiscal circumstances the Center is henceforth only rarely extending financial support to authors. We are still able, however, to review manuscripts and confer with colleagues on study plans; please continue to call on Center scholars for such support.
updated 9-22-07 cbh
Thanks, Greg!
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