Teachers Involved in Designing MERLO Items

Abstract

This chapter looks at an in-depth application of meaning equivalence reusable learning objects (MERLO) to mathematics education and teacher professional development. The study has been conducted during professional development courses for in-service teachers and is focused on mathematics teachers' praxeologies, namely their didactical techniques and theoretical aspects embraced to accomplish a task. Specifically, the task given to the teachers consists in designing MERLO items to be used in their classrooms, working in groups or individually, after having been trained by researchers in mathematical education. The chapter presents two case studies with data, one dealing with secondary school teachers in Italy and one concerning primary teachers in Australia. One of the main aims of the study is the analysis of the praxeologies of these teachers when they are engaged in designing MERLO items during professional development programs. The chapter demonstrates, with these examples, the generalizability potential of MERLO items and that they can be used in different cultural and institutional ecosystems.