Past Presentations

Abstract/Description: We characterize teachers’ orientations related to using student mathematical thinking as a resource during whole-class discussion. We consider the potential these orientations provide to either support or hinder the development of the practice of building on student mathematical thinking.

Abstract/Description: We share findings from an analysis of eight pre-service secondary mathematics teachers’ ability to notice student mathematical thinking while student teaching and discuss differences among student teachers who had varying degrees of exposure to analyzing video during their undergraduate program.

Abstract/Description: This study investigates teacher responses to a common set of high potential instances of student mathematical thinking to better understand the role of the teacher in shaping meaningful mathematical discourse in their classrooms. Teacher responses were coded using a scheme that disentangles the teacher move from other aspects of the teacher response, including who the response is directed to and the degree to which the student thinking is honored. Teachers tended to direct their response to the student who had shared their thinking and to explicitly incorporate ideas core to the student thinking in their response. We consider the nature of these responses in relation to principles of productive use of student mathematical thinking.

Abstract/Description: To contribute to the field’s understanding of the teachers’ role in using student thinking to shape classroom mathematical discourse, we developed the Teacher Response Coding Scheme (TRC). The TRC provides a means to analyze teachers’ in-the-moment responses to student thinking during instruction. The TRC differs from existing schemes in that it disentangles the teacher move from the actor (the person publically asked to consider the student thinking), the recognition (the extent to which the student recognizes their idea in the teacher move), and the mathematics (the alignment of the mathematics in the teacher move to the mathematics in the student thinking). This disentanglement makes the TRC less value-laden and more useful across a broad range of settings.

Abstract/Description: The transition from the static perspective of right triangle trig ratios to the dynamic perspective of circular trig functions, and from measuring angles in degrees to measuring angels in radians, can generate roadblocks and misconceptions. In this session we will examine a sequence of tasks that reveal, rather than obscure, trigonometric ideas.

Abstract/Description: Together we will explore strategies for using a variety of technologies to facilitate whole-class mathematics discussions-discussions in which students are motivated and positioned to engage in making sense of mathematics. Bring your laptop, tablet, calculator, smartphone, or just yourself and join in the fun.

Abstract/Description: US mathematics education has failed to find a robust way to develop and store a knowledge base for teaching. We explore the use of detailed lesson plans as a solution to the storage problem for a knowledge base for teaching. We gather lesson plans and lesson-plan like documents from seven different sources (2 in Japan, 5 in the US) and analyze them to see which ones tend to best capture the key elements of high quality lessons and, moreover, makes the reasoning behind the instructional decisions explicit. We found that Japanese lesson study lesson plans tended to be the best examples of a knowledge base for teaching, although activity articles from Mathematics Teaching in the Middle School and Teaching Children Mathematics also did very well on a few dimensions and fairly well overall. Lessons from the Chicago School Lesson Study Group also scored high. One feature that was common among the better example lessons plans was that they tied together three elements: (1) specific instructional decisions based on (2) student mathematical thinking around a (3) a particular mathematical topic or idea. The good examples integrated these three things differently, and some specific examples were shared about how these were integrated into the lesson plans or lesson-plan like documents.

Abstract/Description: The Comprehensive Mathematics Instruction Framework developed by the BYU Public School Partnership informs teachers in making decisions regarding the selection and sequencing of tasks, in implementing instructional practices that intentionally align with the nature and purpose of tasks (e.g., level of cognitive demand), and in assessing expected student outcomes. Classroom video and student work will be used to illustrate the Framework.

Abstract/Description: We share results from our analysis of our preservice secondary mathematics teachers’ student teaching videos to demonstrate the impact of focused video analysis and discuss differences in the degree to which the student teachers were attentive to probing students’ thinking.

Abstract/Description: In our work with teachers we have identified barriers that inhibit them from productively implementing the teaching practice of building on student thinking. We share examples of barriers and ways we have supported teachers to make progress toward overcoming them.