Investigating boundaries and boundary crossing between mathematics and visual art teaching in a collaborative setting

Our study explores boundaries and boundary crossing between communities of mathematics teaching (MT) and visual art teaching (AT). We focus on teacher collaboration, draw on communities of practice and examine the existing boundaries and the way collaborating members handle them. We present data from 17 group meetings of secondary school art and mathematics teachers who try to develop ways of linking ΜΤ and ΑΤ. Results indicate the emerging boundaries by means of discontinuities regarding mathematical practices and tools used in MT and AT, and the disciplines’ teaching and curriculums. Via analysis of the central boundary – the analytical or visual ways of thinking – we present members’ boundary handling that indicates the development and developmental process of integrated practice. The study incorporates boundary crossing processes and learning mechanisms in which the two separate ways of thinking are gradually transformed into an integrated one and reveals possible ways of integration in teaching and learning.