Doing Research in a Mathematics Education Course: One Experience, Two Points of View

Abstract

In initial teacher training, is there a bridge between theory and practice and, more importantly, does this bridge hold up when students find themselves in the labour market? For several years, this question has been at the heart of the work of authors who have studied the integration of research in initial training and more precisely in initial teacher training. At the Université de Moncton, undergraduate students at the faculty of education take one research course during their studies. However, that course alone doesn‘t seem to be enough to get students to really incorporate research both in their other courses and in their practicum. Therefore, in order to integrate research in initial teacher training, some changes were made to the mathematics education course. Our goal was both to have students develop a positive attitude towards research and to carry out their own research. In order to do that, the work that they had to do was organized to achieve all the learning outcomes through the implementation of a didactic engineering. Such an approach not only allowed students to make connections between theory and practice by working with pupils in the school system, but also to publish an article in which they shared their experience with other teachers.