Resources

This program profile is part of WestEd’s high-level study of five mathematics programs that build student and teacher confidence, enjoyment, and skill. This profile presents findings on Math Teacher Circles (MTC).

Teachers need time and support to experience mathematics in new ways. MTCs are locally organized collaborative communities comprising teachers (elementary and secondary) and career mathematicians (e.g., mathematics professors) that meet to do fun and interesting mathematics problems together and informally discuss problems of practice and pedagogy.

This brief shows how teachers’ participation in MTCs influenced teachers’ and students’ math learning and enjoyment based on interviews, survey responses, and participant-observation field notes.

Key Insights

• MTCs promote teachers’ mathematics confidence and model new ways of doing mathematics so that teachers can share such experiences with their own students.
• Teachers report that their involvement in MTCs reminds them of what their students feel like while learning mathematics, which creates empathy for their students.
• Teachers and teacher educators report that teachers’ understanding of mathematics and the pedagogical strategies they employ shift as a result of their involvement in MTCs.

Further Reading

Read the Innovative Mathematics Programs brief for a summary profile of all five programs and access to the full profiles of the other programs.