Towards Characterization of Scale and Scaling in Implementation Research within Mathematics Education

What is it about?

Scale and scaling are central concepts in projects aimed at implementing innovations for improving mathematics education. This study aims to provide conceptual clarity on the notions of scale and scaling in mathematics education research. The meanings of these terms are handled tacitly, and there is diversity in how they are used in the literature. To address this, we gathered opinions from experienced researchers in the area of the large-scale implementation of educational innovations, and we also conducted a literature review of articles explicitly addressing aspects of scale and scaling in mathematics education. We analyzed the content of these sources using Coburn’s (2003) conceptualization of scale. Our findings provide insight into how experts define and understand the concepts of small scale, large scale, at scale, and scaling, and how these concepts relate to the four dimensions of scale proposed by Coburn. This study contributes to developing a more precise and nuanced understanding of scale and scaling in mathematics education research by offering an operational distinction between small-scale, large-scale, and medium-scale project implementation. This distinction is based on three key factors: the contact factor, the material factor, and the organizational factor.

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