Using Doll's Postmodern Curriculum Theory to Cultivate Students' Productive Struggles in Mathematics Education

• In Event: Methods and Models in Complexity Theories in Education

Abstract

As former mathematics teachers and current mathematics educators, the authors agree it is important and even necessary for math teachers to patiently cultivate productive struggles in their daily classrooms. This paper will share two classroom vignettes in the authors' Mathematics Methods classes with an attempt to explore the rich dynamics of such productive struggles by using William Doll’s post-modern curriculum theory of 4Rs (Richness, Recursion, Relation and Rigor) (1993) within the theoretical framework of complexity theory.

Authors

• Jie Yu, Rollins College

• Lianfang Lu, University of Arkansas at Little Rock