Teachers’ Orientations Toward Mathematics Curriculum Materials: Implications for Teaching and Learning

This study was prompted by the current availability of newly designed mathematics curriculum materials for elementary teachers. Seeking to understand the role that reform-oriented curricula might play in supporting teacher learning, we studied the ways in which 8 teachers in the same school used one such curriculum, Investigations in Number, Data, and Space (TERC, 1998) during the first year and a half of use. Findings revealed that teachers have orientations toward using curriculum resources that influence the way they used the curriculum, regardless of their agreement with its mathematical vision. As a result, different uses of the resource led to different opportunities for student and teacher learning. Teachers most likely to take a piloting stance toward the curriculum and engage all of its resources fully were inexperienced teachers. Findings suggest that learning to use unfamiliar curriculum resources differently might be a central focus of reform efforts.