Journal of the Mathematics Council of the Alberta Teachers’ Association
Volume 32 Issue 3, August 1995
21 – 23
Building a Professional Memory: Articulating Knowledge About Teaching Mathematics
Barry Onslow and Art Geddis
In many ways, teaching is a profession without a memory. Unlike architecture and engineering, few detailed records are kept of what teachers do and how they do it. Architects and engineers leave behind drawings, specifications, models, contracts and buildings. Such artifacts provide a record of the problems faced, solutions tried and products produced. Teachers, however. leave few descriptions that record their experiences introducing a new topic or their struggles with particularly challenging curriculum. Many records that are left do little to capture the complexity of teachers’ pedagogy.
