Home \(\blacktriangleright\) Studies and Publications \(\blacktriangleright\) Teachers: Professional Development and Pedagogical Perceptions

Teachers: Professional Development and Pedagogical Perceptions

Training and Development
Creativity and Innovation
Summary

Teacher Training and Professional Development

Research conducted at Range Center reflects a broad and deep perception of the teaching profession, focusing on the interplay between teacher training, professional development, and pedagogical perceptions. The teacher is positioned as a key figure in shaping a challenging and creative learning environment (Guberman & Leikin, 2013; Leikin, 2006, 2021; Leikin & Levav-Waynberg, 2007, 2009).

This approach emphasizes that effective professional development is not limited to acquiring theoretical knowledge, but requires a combination of systematic-institutional learning with practical experience in the field (Craft). The center bases its activities on models that identify the hierarchical link between the teacher’s professional potential and the ability to set a mathematical challenge adapted to students.

Teaching as Investigative Practice

Our holistic model combines an academic axis (theory and PCK) with an artistic axis (experience in Craft). This combination allows teachers to regulate the challenge in open-ended tasks (MOTs & MSTs) and adapt them to heterogeneous classrooms.

Teachers become researchers themselves when asked to turn closed learning problems into open and challenging tasks, a process that contributes significantly to their professional development (Klein & Leikin, 2020; Leikin, 2015). The teacher does not just transmit knowledge but designs a challenging environment. Combining classical theories with findings from neuroscience gives teachers the ability to develop evidence-based learning environments.

Learning While Teaching

Studies show that perceptual change in teachers happens only when they implement complex tasks (e.g., open-ended tasks) in the classroom in real-time. The task is the catalyst for professional development.

Regulating the Challenge

Teachers are trained to use stepped tasks that allow for the learner’s self-regulation, thereby providing an answer to various levels within a heterogeneous classroom.

This process leads to teachers who, in practice, implement such learning environments, consolidating integrated pedagogical and mathematical perceptions that promote the quality of teaching over time. Incorporating technologies such as Dynamic Geometry Environments (DGE) has been found to be a factor that directly affects teachers’ ability to turn closed problems into open-ended investigation tasks (Guberman & Leikin, 2013; Leikin & Levav-Waynberg, 2009; Leikin, 2015; Leikin & Grossman, 2013; Leikin & Elgrably, 2020).

Creativity, Challenge, and Cultural Contexts

Teachers’ perceptions regarding creativity and challenge constitute a central pillar in the center’s applied research. Findings indicate that there are cultural differences in the perception of creativity, with international comparative studies emphasizing that these perceptions differ between countries.

  • An environment that encourages mental flexibility and originality is essential for realizing learners’ potential.

  • Developing the skill for creative teaching is a multi-dimensional process that also includes planning ability.

  • Teachers who use stepped tasks succeed in regulating the level of challenge in heterogeneous classrooms.

(Leikin et al., 2013; Lev-Zamir & Leikin, 2011; Leikin, 2014, 2016, 2019, 2021; Cai et al., 2026)

Neurocognition and Innovation in Teaching

Another significant aspect of the center’s work is expanding teachers’ knowledge base into innovative fields such as neuroscience and neurocognition. Through large-scale reviews in the field of neuromathematics, the center confirms the growing trend of using these tools to understand processing and problem-solving processes (Leikin et al., 2013; Leikin et al., 2025).

This knowledge allows teachers to approach teaching with a deeper understanding of cognitive load and external representations, thereby adapting tasks more accurately to students’ processing abilities.

Summary and Future Outlook

The work of the center’s researchers shows that there is a built-in gap between theoretical recommendations and practice, stemming from the situated nature of teachers’ knowledge. To bridge this gap, the center offers models of learning while teaching.

It has been proven that integrating tasks with multiple solutions not only enriches students’ mathematical knowledge but also serves as a powerful professional development tool for the teachers themselves, who develop self-confidence and enjoyment from creative and challenging teaching.

Cai, J., Leikin, R., & Robison, V. (2026). New Advances and Directions of Mathematical Problem-Posing Research. Research in Mathematical Problem Posing: New Advances and Directions, 1-15. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-032-05493-7_1

Guberman, R., & Leikin, R. (2013). Interesting and difficult mathematical problems: changing teachers’ views by employing multiple-solution tasks. Journal of Mathematics Teacher Education, 16(1), 33-56. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10857-012-9210-7

Klein, S., & Leikin, R. (2020). Opening mathematical problems for posing open mathematical tasks: what do teachers do and feel? Educational Studies in Mathematics, 105(3), 349–365. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10649-020-09983-y

Leikin, R., & Elgrably, H. (2020). Problem posing through investigations for the development and evaluation of proof-related skills and creativity skills of prospective high school mathematics teachers. International Journal of Educational Research, 102, 101574. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijer.2020.101574

Leikin, R., & Grossman, D. (2013). Teachers modify geometry problems: from proof to investigation. Educational Studies in Mathematics, 82(3), 515-531. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10649-012-9460-4

Leikin, R., & Levav-Waynberg, A. (2007). Exploring mathematics teacher knowledge to explain the gap between theory-based recommendations and school practice in the use of connecting tasks. Educational Studies in mathematics, 66(3), 349-371. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10649-006-9071-z

Leikin, R., & Levav-Waynberg, A. (2009). Development of teachers’ conceptions through learning and teaching: The meaning and potential of multiple-solution tasks. Canadian Journal of Science, Mathematics and Technology Education, 9(4), 203-223. https://doi.org/10.1080/14926150903314305

Leikin, R., Leikin, M., Waisman, I., & Shaul, S. (2013). Effect of the presence of external representations on accuracy and reaction time in solving mathematical double-choice problems by students of different levels of instruction. International Journal of Science and Mathematics Education, 11(5), 1049-1066. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10763-012-9388-z

Leikin, R., Subotnik, R., Pitta-Pantazi, D., Singer, F. M., & Pelczer, I. (2013). Teachers’ views on creativity in mathematics education: An international survey. ZDM Mathematics Education, 45(3), 309-324. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11858-012-0472-4

Leikin, R., Hsu, H.-Y., Ansari, D., Abrahamson, D., Obersteiner, A., Miskin, M., & Waisman, I. (2025). Systematics review of the interdisciplinary exchange among mathematics education and neuroscience. ZDM – Mathematics Education, 57, 583–602. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11858-025-01705-z

Leikin, R. (2006). Learning by teaching: The case of Sieve of Eratosthenes and one elementary school teacher. In R. Zazkis & S. Campbell (Eds.), Number Theory in Mathematics Education: Perspectives and Prospects. (pp. 115-140). Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum.

Leikin, R. (2014). Challenging mathematics with multiple solution tasks and mathematical investigations in geometry. In Y. Li, E. A. Silver, & S. Li (Eds.), Transforming mathematics instruction: Multiple approaches and practices (pp. 59-71). Springer. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-04993-9_5

Leikin, R. (2015). Problem Posing for and Through Investigations in a Dynamic Geometry Environment. In F. M. Singer et al. (Eds.), Mathematical Problem Posing (pp. 373–391). Research in Mathematics Education. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-6258-3_18

Leikin, R. (2016, August). Interplay between creativity and expertise in teaching and learning of mathematics. In Proceedings of the 40th Conference of the International Group for the Psychology of Mathematics Education (Vol. 1, pp. 19-34). Szeged, Hungary: PME.

Leikin, R. (2019). Stepped tasks: Top-down structure of varying mathematical challenge. In P. Felmer, E. Pehkonen, & J. Kilpatrick (Eds.), Problem solving in mathematics instruction and teacher professional development (pp. 167–186). Springer Nature Switzerland AG. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-29215-7_9

Leikin, R. (2021). Characterisation of mathematics teacher educators’ knowledge in terms of teachers’ professional potential and challenging content for mathematics teachers. In M. Goos & K. Beswick (Eds.), The learning and development of mathematics teacher educators (pp. 109–121). Springer. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-62408-8_6

Lev-Zamir, H., & Leikin, R. (2011). Creative mathematics teaching in the eye of the beholder: Focusing on teachers’ conceptions. Research in Mathematics Education, 13(1), 17–32. https://doi.org/10.1080/14794802.2011.550715