Classroom Practice

Teachers' Orientations Toward Using Student Mathematical Thinking as a Resource During Whole-Class Discussion

Using student mathematical thinking during instruction is valued by the mathematics education community, yet practices surrounding such use remain difficult for teachers to enact well, particularly in the moment during whole-class instruction. Teachers’ orientations—their beliefs, values, and preferences—influence their actions, so one important aspect of understanding teachers’ use of student thinking as a resource is understanding their related orientations.

Author/Presenter

Shari L. Stockero, Keith R. Leatham, Mary A. Ochieng, Laura R. Van Zoest & Blake E. Peterson

Year
2020
Short Description

The purpose of this study is to characterize teachers’ orientations toward using student mathematical thinking as a resource during whole-class instruction.

Conceptualizing Important Facets of Teacher Responses to Student Mathematical Thinking

We argue that progress in the area of research on mathematics teacher responses to student thinking could be enhanced were the field to attend more explicitly to important facets of those responses, as well as to related units of analysis. We describe the Teacher Response Coding scheme (TRC) to illustrate how such attention might play out, and then apply the TRC to an excerpt of classroom mathematics discourse to demonstrate the affordances of this approach.
Author/Presenter

Laura R. Van Zoest

Blake E. Peterson

Annick O. T. Rougée

Shari L. Stockero

Keith R. Leatham

Ben Freeburn

Year
2021
Short Description

We argue that progress in the area of research on mathematics teacher responses to student thinking could be enhanced were the field to attend more explicitly to important facets of those responses, as well as to related units of analysis. We describe the Teacher Response Coding scheme (TRC) to illustrate how such attention might play out, and then apply the TRC to an excerpt of classroom mathematics discourse to demonstrate the affordances of this approach. We conclude by making several further observations about the potential versatility and power in articulating units of analysis and developing and applying tools that attend to these facets when conducting research on teacher responses.

Conceptualizing Important Facets of Teacher Responses to Student Mathematical Thinking

We argue that progress in the area of research on mathematics teacher responses to student thinking could be enhanced were the field to attend more explicitly to important facets of those responses, as well as to related units of analysis. We describe the Teacher Response Coding scheme (TRC) to illustrate how such attention might play out, and then apply the TRC to an excerpt of classroom mathematics discourse to demonstrate the affordances of this approach.
Author/Presenter

Laura R. Van Zoest

Blake E. Peterson

Annick O. T. Rougée

Shari L. Stockero

Keith R. Leatham

Ben Freeburn

Year
2021
Short Description

We argue that progress in the area of research on mathematics teacher responses to student thinking could be enhanced were the field to attend more explicitly to important facets of those responses, as well as to related units of analysis. We describe the Teacher Response Coding scheme (TRC) to illustrate how such attention might play out, and then apply the TRC to an excerpt of classroom mathematics discourse to demonstrate the affordances of this approach. We conclude by making several further observations about the potential versatility and power in articulating units of analysis and developing and applying tools that attend to these facets when conducting research on teacher responses.

Conceptualizing Important Facets of Teacher Responses to Student Mathematical Thinking

We argue that progress in the area of research on mathematics teacher responses to student thinking could be enhanced were the field to attend more explicitly to important facets of those responses, as well as to related units of analysis. We describe the Teacher Response Coding scheme (TRC) to illustrate how such attention might play out, and then apply the TRC to an excerpt of classroom mathematics discourse to demonstrate the affordances of this approach.
Author/Presenter

Laura R. Van Zoest

Blake E. Peterson

Annick O. T. Rougée

Shari L. Stockero

Keith R. Leatham

Ben Freeburn

Year
2021
Short Description

We argue that progress in the area of research on mathematics teacher responses to student thinking could be enhanced were the field to attend more explicitly to important facets of those responses, as well as to related units of analysis. We describe the Teacher Response Coding scheme (TRC) to illustrate how such attention might play out, and then apply the TRC to an excerpt of classroom mathematics discourse to demonstrate the affordances of this approach. We conclude by making several further observations about the potential versatility and power in articulating units of analysis and developing and applying tools that attend to these facets when conducting research on teacher responses.

Clarifiable Ambiguity in Classroom Mathematics Discourse

Ambiguity is a natural part of communication in a mathematics classroom. In this paper, a particular subset of ambiguity is characterized as clarifiable. Clarifiable ambiguity in classroom mathematics discourse is common, frequently goes unaddressed, and unnecessarily hinders in-the-moment communication because it likely could be made more clear in a relatively straightforward way if it were attended to. We argue for deliberate attention to clarifiable ambiguity as a critical aspect of attending to meaning and as a necessary precursor to productive use of student mathematical thinking.

Author/Presenter

Blake E. Peterson

Keith R. Leatham

Lindsay M. Merrill

Laura R. Van Zoest

Shari L. Stockero

Year
2020
Short Description

Ambiguity is a natural part of communication in a mathematics classroom. In this paper, a particular subset of ambiguity is characterized as clarifiable. Clarifiable ambiguity in classroom mathematics discourse is common, frequently goes unaddressed, and unnecessarily hinders in-the-moment communication because it likely could be made more clear in a relatively straightforward way if it were attended to. We argue for deliberate attention to clarifiable ambiguity as a critical aspect of attending to meaning and as a necessary precursor to productive use of student mathematical thinking.

Clarifiable Ambiguity in Classroom Mathematics Discourse

Ambiguity is a natural part of communication in a mathematics classroom. In this paper, a particular subset of ambiguity is characterized as clarifiable. Clarifiable ambiguity in classroom mathematics discourse is common, frequently goes unaddressed, and unnecessarily hinders in-the-moment communication because it likely could be made more clear in a relatively straightforward way if it were attended to. We argue for deliberate attention to clarifiable ambiguity as a critical aspect of attending to meaning and as a necessary precursor to productive use of student mathematical thinking.

Author/Presenter

Blake E. Peterson

Keith R. Leatham

Lindsay M. Merrill

Laura R. Van Zoest

Shari L. Stockero

Year
2020
Short Description

Ambiguity is a natural part of communication in a mathematics classroom. In this paper, a particular subset of ambiguity is characterized as clarifiable. Clarifiable ambiguity in classroom mathematics discourse is common, frequently goes unaddressed, and unnecessarily hinders in-the-moment communication because it likely could be made more clear in a relatively straightforward way if it were attended to. We argue for deliberate attention to clarifiable ambiguity as a critical aspect of attending to meaning and as a necessary precursor to productive use of student mathematical thinking.

Clarifiable Ambiguity in Classroom Mathematics Discourse

Ambiguity is a natural part of communication in a mathematics classroom. In this paper, a particular subset of ambiguity is characterized as clarifiable. Clarifiable ambiguity in classroom mathematics discourse is common, frequently goes unaddressed, and unnecessarily hinders in-the-moment communication because it likely could be made more clear in a relatively straightforward way if it were attended to. We argue for deliberate attention to clarifiable ambiguity as a critical aspect of attending to meaning and as a necessary precursor to productive use of student mathematical thinking.

Author/Presenter

Blake E. Peterson

Keith R. Leatham

Lindsay M. Merrill

Laura R. Van Zoest

Shari L. Stockero

Year
2020
Short Description

Ambiguity is a natural part of communication in a mathematics classroom. In this paper, a particular subset of ambiguity is characterized as clarifiable. Clarifiable ambiguity in classroom mathematics discourse is common, frequently goes unaddressed, and unnecessarily hinders in-the-moment communication because it likely could be made more clear in a relatively straightforward way if it were attended to. We argue for deliberate attention to clarifiable ambiguity as a critical aspect of attending to meaning and as a necessary precursor to productive use of student mathematical thinking.

Think Alouds: Informing Scholarship and Broadening Partnerships through Assessment

Think alouds are valuable tools for academicians, test developers, and practitioners as they provide a unique window into a respondent’s thinking during an assessment. The purpose of this special issue is to highlight novel ways to use think alouds as a means to gather evidence about respondents’ thinking. An intended outcome from this special issue is that readers may better understand think alouds and feel better equipped to use them in practical and research settings.

Author/Presenter

Jonathan David Bostic

Lead Organization(s)
Year
2021
Short Description

Introduction to special issue focusing on think alouds and response process evidence. This work cuts across STEM education scholarship and introduces readers to robust means to engage in think alouds.

Gathering Response Process Data for a Problem-Solving Measure through Whole-Class Think Alouds

Response process validity evidence provides a window into a respondent’s cognitive processing. The purpose of this study is to describe a new data collection tool called a whole-class think aloud (WCTA). This work is performed as part of test development for a series of problem-solving measures to be used in elementary and middle grades. Data from third-grade students were collected in a 1–1 think-aloud setting and compared to data from similar students as part of WCTAs. Findings indicated that students performed similarly on the items when the two think-aloud settings were compared.

Author/Presenter

Jonathan David Bostic

Toni A. Sondergeld

Gabriel Matney

Gregory Stone

Tiara Hicks

Lead Organization(s)
Year
2021
Short Description

This is a description of a new methodological tool to gather response process validity evidence. The context is scholarship within mathematics education contexts.

Gathering Response Process Data for a Problem-Solving Measure through Whole-Class Think Alouds

Response process validity evidence provides a window into a respondent’s cognitive processing. The purpose of this study is to describe a new data collection tool called a whole-class think aloud (WCTA). This work is performed as part of test development for a series of problem-solving measures to be used in elementary and middle grades. Data from third-grade students were collected in a 1–1 think-aloud setting and compared to data from similar students as part of WCTAs. Findings indicated that students performed similarly on the items when the two think-aloud settings were compared.

Author/Presenter

Jonathan David Bostic

Toni A. Sondergeld

Gabriel Matney

Gregory Stone

Tiara Hicks

Lead Organization(s)
Year
2021
Short Description

This is a description of a new methodological tool to gather response process validity evidence. The context is scholarship within mathematics education contexts.