dissemination

Knowledge dissemination

1.  Arts-informed knowledge dissemination

screen-shot-2016-11-15-at-5-30-52-pmResearch is typically written in a style and for venues that remain largely inaccessible to the wider public and even to the practitioners who might benefit from it. Glesne (2010) suggests that to make our work accessible “to others beyond the academic community […] means creating in forms that others will want to read, watch, or listen to, feel and learn from the representations” (p. 262), such as “drama, poetry, and narrative” (p. 245). Eisner (1997) adds that alternative forms of research representation “make empathy possible when work on those forms are treated as works of art […] provide a sense of particularity that abstractions cannot render,” generate “insight” and invite “attention to complexity” (p. 8). The story-based format of the Research-Minis shared above offer one alternative form of research representation. Another form is summarizing experiences as songs where the lyrics represent actual experiences. For example, the music video Dots, Clocks and Waves (available http://researchideas.ca/wmt/c2d4.html) shows how student work and parent feedback can be shared artistically: the music video shares student work as the children involved sing a song of comments made by their parents after they shared their learning at home. Over the last seven years, Fields has funded school math concerts across Ontario to share research data as songs (see http://researchideas.ca/jx).

2.  TeachOntario

TVO’s TeachOntario will provide a platform for creating and sharing KM resources with the wider Ontario community of educators, as well as Faculty of Education teacher candidates and graduate students and their professors.

3.  Publications

The MKN (i.e., CoP members and collaborating Advisory Panel members) will publish reports on the activities and the outcomes. Typically, publications’ target audience is the scholarly community. The aim for the MKN will be to publish for a variety of target audiences including scholars, teachers and school administrators, and parents. Scholarly journals may include: Fields Mathematics Education Journal, For the Learning of Mathematics, and the Canadian Journal for Mathematics, Science, and Technology Education. Professional journals for teachers and administrators may include: OAME’s Gazette, OPC Registrar, Professionally Speaking, Mathematics Teacher, and What Works? Research into Practice. Publications for parents may appear in the following venues: People for Education Newsletter and Learning Disabilities Association of Ontario Newsletter. Special issues on the work of the MKN may appear in journals such as the OAME’s Gazette and the Fields Journal on Mathematics Education.

4.  Conferences/Presentations

MKN (i.e., CoP members and collaborating Advisory Panel members) will collaborate to present the activities and the outcomes at a variety of venues aimed at a broad target audience to include practitioners, researchers, policy makers, parents, and community groups. The presentations will vary in nature from the scholarly presentation of the work of the MKN to practical presentations for teacher/administrator and parent groups. Scholarly venues may include: The Psychology of Mathematics Education North America Annual Conference and/or the Canadian Society for Studies in Education. Professional venues for teachers and administrators may include: Ontario Teacher Federation and Ontario Association of Deans of Education annual conference, Fields MathEd Forum, the annual OAME conference or the annual conferences held by the various OAME chapters, Ontario Education Research symposium, and/or professional development sessions (such as those organized by school districts). Venues for parent and community presentations may include: Parent Involvement Committees Annual Symposium.

5.  Government Advocacy

The MKN will engage with policymakers to share the work of the MKN and the evolving progress. Annually, the MKN will work with KNAER Secretariat to organize a pop-up event at Queen’s Park for MPs.