Funded Research Project

Responsibility for knowledge generation in Australian and Korean mathematics classrooms: Beyond the teacher-centred/student-centred dichotomy

Chief Investigator: Professor David Clarke

Funded by: ARC Discovery Project grant 2005–2007

Project Summary: We need to reconcile the apparent differences in instructional practice between well-taught 'Asian' and well-taught 'Western' mathematics classrooms. If this can be achieved then best practice in one tradition can inform best practice in the other. An analytical approach based on the distribution of responsibility for knowledge generation is applied to well- taught classrooms in Australia and Korea in order to accommodate the effective practices of competent teachers in both traditions within the same explanatory framework. Only then will teachers in one tradition have access to effective practice in the other tradition in a form likely to sustain culturally-appropriate adaptation. The benefits to Australian schools will be considerable.