7: Teacher Learning in Mathematics Teacher Groups: One Math Problem at a Time

In recent years there has been increased interest in promoting teacher-learning communities as a form of teachers’ professional development. This approach engages teachers in critical and reflective conversations about the challenges of teaching practice (Ball & Cohen, 1999) and is founded on collaborative and active views of teacher learning (Wilson & Berne, 1999). These professional learning communities offer “the possibility of individual transformation as well as the transformation of the social settings in which individuals work” (Grossman, Wineburg, & Woolworth, 2001, p. 948). In fact, some argue that school-based professional communities are key to supporting teachers’ attempts to change their teaching practices and to implement systemic school reform (e.g., McLaughlin & Talbert, 2001).