A Research Timeline
I have always been interested in people's views of and attitudes toward mathematics (often not good!) and this was central to both my MEd and PhD studies at the University of Alberta, and in subsequent studies here at Nipissing with pre-service teachers. For my master's thesis, I conducted research in a grade eight class for several months, exploring what mathematics meant to the students. My PhD dissertation focused on an examination of the views of two secondary mathematics teachers and their students regarding the whole idea of what 'excellence in mathematics' meant to them. (Excellence had become a major educational buzz word in the 80s. But the typical focus was on achievement; I wanted to try to understand what it meant to the teachers and students in everyday mathematics classrooms). So, I again spent several months in classrooms observing and talking to the students and teachers. It was quite an interesting experience.
During the 1990s here at Nipissing, I devoted much of my research focus again to the question of attitudes toward, and beliefs about mathematics. Colleagues and I conducted extensive surveys of Primary/Junior (P/J) and Junior/Intermediate (J/I) preservice teachers. Papers were presented at various conferences. During that time, I also (i) worked with secondary mathematics teacher colleagues in two local school boards as we explored using 'nonstandard' writing in the secondary mathematics classroom, and (ii) co-organized four local conferences, two in mathematics education, one in constructivism (which led to the publication of a Proceedings) and one in educational partnerships (which led to a guest editorship for the International Electronic Journal for Leadership and Learning). Our writing in the secondary mathematics classroom culminated in a successful group presentation at the 1997 Ontario Association for Mathematics Education (OAME) annual conference.
Since 2000, my research has continued to take a rather varied path, with a bit more of a technology 'twist.' I started the new millennium by conducting case study research in a local high school on the introduction of an extensive technology restructuring and more recently have worked with two colleagues (Dr. Barb Olmsted and Dr. Mike McCabe) in the BEd program to explore the use of a J/I interdisciplinary assignment that incorporated technology and health data from the Statistics Canada website. The latter project has led to several conference presentations, some publications, and the development of a health/mathematics resource website. In 2010 Dr. Jarvis and I also worked on a mathematics and technology project. We hope to be able to report more on this in the future.
Teachers' professional learning has also become a focus for me. During the first part of 2008 I took part, as a researcher, in the wonderful work that teachers in four local elementary schools were beginning as professional learning communities in mathematics education. In the fall of 2008, my colleagues Dr. Dan Jarvis and Dr. Ron Wideman and I began a year long mathematics education collaborative action research project with seven teacher teams, sponsored by the Elementary Teachers Federation of Ontario (ETFO). We were one of five Ontario university teams serving in this capacity. We conducted case studies with three of our teacher teams, and in October 2009 presented ETFO with our report. Since then we have been moving forward with the publication of other articles and a journal guest editorship on this experience.
Most recently my attention to in-service work with teachers has taken a very positive jump forward as I and my colleagues in the SSE and the Department of Computer Science and Mathematics have worked in collaboration with local school boards and Dr. John Mayer of the Greater Birmingham (Alabama) Mathematics Partnership [GBMP] to offer workshops in mathematical reasoning. We began in May 2011, and expect to continue this fall.
Some Recent Publications and Conference Papers
Franks, D. (2009, September). Mathematics professional learning communities: Opportunities and challenges in an elementary school context. Presented at the 10 th International Conference of The Mathematics Education into the 21 st Century Project, Dresden, Germany.
Franks, D., & Daniels, G. (2008, May). Building mathematics professional learning communities at the elementary school level. Paper presented at the Twelfth International Consortium for Research in Science and Mathematics Education, Quito, Ecuador.
Franks, D., McCabe, M., & Olmsted, B. (2007). Extending pre-service teacher education through an interdisciplinary mathematics, health, and technology approach. In D. Pugalee, A. Rogerson, & A Schinck (Eds.), Proceedings of the 9 th International Conference, Mathematics Education in a Global Community (pp. 203-208). Charlotte, USA: The Mathematics Education in the 21 st Century Project.
Franks, D., Olmsted, B, & McCabe, M. (2008). Using E-STAT to prepare for the teachable moment: Teacher candidates demonstrate how easy it is . Ontario Mathematics Gazette.
Franks, D., Olmsted, B. & McCabe, M. (2007, July). Technology: Opening interdisciplinary possibilities, or masking meaningfulness? Paper presented at the 13 th Biennial Conference of the International Study Association of Teachers and Teaching, St. Catharines, Ontario.
Franks, D., & Tuncali, M. (2004). Developing the connection between undergraduate mathematics and mathematics education: Innovation in teacher education. In A. Rogerson (Ed.), Proceedings of the International Conference on the Future of Mathematics Education (pp. 50-54). Ciechocinek, Poland: The Mathematics Education in the 21 st Century Project.
McCabe, M., Olmsted, B., & Franks, D. (2008, March). Linking mathematics, technology, and health education: Preservice teachers' experience with the health behavior of school-aged children data. Paper presented at the Annual Conference of the American Educational Research Association, New York.
Wideman, R., Jarvis, D., & Franks, D. (2009, October). Report on case study research of the experience of three Teachers Learning Together teams conducting action research on mathematics education. Submitted to The Elementary Teachers' Federation of Ontario, Toronto.