The context for this study was a math for teachers course component where the main goal was to engage teacher candidates (TCs) with learning experiences that offered the pleasure of mathematical insight and surprise, to help disrupt their views of what mathematics is and what it means to teach and learn mathematics. The mode of delivery was blended learning, where the online component focused on: (1) investigation of online resources (available at researchideas.ca/wmt) to support and extend face-to-face, hands-on investigations, and (2) online journals where they shared and discussed their experiences. Our study used qualitative content analysis focusing on two questions: (1) In what ways did teacher candidates experience mathematical surprise? (2) In what ways might the online discussion be organized and supported differently to enhance the experience? For the first question, we used Schwab's (1973) commonplaces of education (i.e. teacher, student, subject matter, and learning milieu) as our analysis categories. For the second question, we used Gunawardena, Lowe & Anderson's (1997) five phases of knowledge construction (i.e. sharing and comparing information, discovery and exploration of dissonance, negotiation of meaning, testing and modification, and newly constructed meaning).
Although most of the presentation will focus on presenting the results of our study, we will also show some interactive modules and short videos that were used as a part of the study in the site
http://researchideas.ca/wmt
