%0 Journal Article
%T A Quilting Lesson for Early Childhood Preservice and Regular Classroom Teachers: What Constitutes Mathematical Activity?
%A Shelly Sheats Harkness
%A Lisa Portwood
%J Mathematics Educator
%D 2007
%I University of Georgia
%X In this narrative of teacher educator action research, the idea for and the context of the lesson emerged as a result of conversations between Shelly, a mathematics teacher educator, and Lisa, a quilter, about real-life mathematical problems related to Lisa¡¯s work as she created the templates for a reproduction quilt. The lesson was used with early childhood preservice teachers in a mathematics methods course and with K-2 teachers who participated in a professional development workshop that focused on geometry and measurement content. The goal of the lesson was threefold: (a) to help the participants consider a nonstandard real-world contextual problem as mathematical activity, (b) to create an opportunity for participants to mathematize (Freudenthal, 1968), and (c) to unpack mathematical big ideas related to measurement and similarity. Participants¡¯ strategies were analyzed, prompting conversations about these big ideas, as well as an unanticipated one.
%U http://math.coe.uga.edu/TME/Issues/v17n1/v17n1_Harkness.pdf