Designing a Teacher Learning Sequence for Building on Mathematical Opportunities in Student Thinking (Collaborative Research: Stockero)

Mathematical Opportunities in Student Thinking (MOSTs) are high-leverage instances of student mathematical thinking that emerge in whole-class discussions. The challenge for teachers is to build on these opportunities to help the whole class understand the mathematics underlying these student contributions. To help teachers learn how to build on MOSTs, there is a need for professional development resources and tools that facilitators can use. There is also a need for research about how teachers use what they learn in professional development in their teaching. This project is developing a teacher learning sequence that will support teachers in learning to productively use student thinking that surfaces in-the-moment during their instruction—that is, in learning to build on MOSTs.

This project builds on prior work that developed a framework for recognizing MOSTs and conceptualized the building practice teachers use to effectively capitalize on MOSTs. The overarching research question for the project is: to what extent does the professional learning sequence help teachers understand and enact the teaching practice of building? As part of this investigation, the project also considers factors that might mitigate teachers’ learning, such as teacher attributes (knowledge, practices, or experiences) and contextual factors. The study uses a design research framework to document how teachers take up aspects of building on MOSTs from the professional development, the process of teachers’ learning, and changes in their classroom practice. The study relies on data from the professional development activities, teacher surveys and interviews, and classroom data. The project sites include secondary schools in urban and rural settings.