Mathematical tasks as boundary objects in design-based implementation research

Abstract

This paper describes a collaboration involving school district curriculum supervisors, mathematics teachers, university researchers, and web engineers engaged in design-based implementation research of the adaptation of an Algebra 1 curriculum to meet the demands of the Common Core State Standards for Mathematics. In this effort, mathematical tasks operated as a boundary object, acting to organize cooperative work despite a lack of consensus regarding their meaning or purpose. Exposing and understanding this lack of consensus during joint work at community boundaries provided opportunities for learning in the form of changed practice and activity. Evidence for learning through coordination is presented, such as the communication of curricular vision and the routinization of a task rating process. Where lack of consensus led to potential conflict, as in the case of task adaptation, evidence for learning in the form of new practices was less evident.