Here are some of the best ideas that we have come across during the project:
Mathematics education research could reach teachers in a more efficient way if teachers would be able to be research students or researchers at the same time as they work as teachers.
There is a need for good dialogue between researchers and teachers. For this a good format is important, e.g. the dialogue seminar. This is prepared dialogues, where everyone has thought in advance and produced reflections concerning a certain topic. Teachers who have participated in dialogue seminars have said that "they learned to listen". Dialogue requires talking and listening, where listening is the hardest part.
Researchers get no ”cred” when they write for teachers (instead of the research community). This needs to be changed if we want an improvement of the situation.
The world of mathematics education research is often too big for teachers to keep track of. With more than 500 magazines and hundreds of new books coming each year, there is a need for investigators who specialize in helping teachers find interesting research results.
Teachers ought to be able to influence the choice of research areas that researchers make.
In special workshops, teachers and researchers in Umeå (Sweden) work together, constructing “rich” mathematics problems. This way, they learn about each other’s way of thinking and increase the chances of future cooperation.
In Värmland (Sweden) teachers get to work as” research scouts”, i.e. they go on seminars and then go back to their colleagues, reporting what they’ve learned.
In Sweden, the company “Skolporten” have a special website (http://www.skolporten.com/fou/) with news concerning the world of education research, including presentations of researchers and their theses.
There ought to be an”ask a researcher”-website.