Teachers’ Pedagogical Sensemaking of Mathematics Education Research through Replication: a Way of Increasing Implementability of Research Findings

What is it about?

How relevant is academic educational research for practicing teachers? Teachers may find it difficult to comprehend, they may not believe its findings are relevant for their particular educational context, and even when they do, it may be difficult for them to draw practical implications. We show how engaging teachers in small-scale replications – in the form of individual interviews – creates opportunities for them to make pedagogical sense of academic research. The replicated research may be more trustworthy in the eyes of replicating teachers, and more relevant for the educational contexts in which they work. Through their first-hand experience of conducting the replication, teachers may gain a more nuanced appreciation of the phenomenon under investigation than the original research afforded, and their interactions with students during an interview may suggest practical pedagogical implications. This first-hand involvement in the research process may lead teachers to a deep appreciation of their findings, which they will be more inclined to implement in their teaching.

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