Past Presentations

Abstract/Description: We share video learning activities that support preservice secondary mathematics teachers’ implementation of participation questioning discourse that consists of (a) modeling and engaging students in mathematical discourse and activity, and (b) supporting and assessing students’ development of conceptual understanding.

Abstract/Description: Exploring racial consciousness’ influence on faculty behavior, White and faculty of color share narratives that reveal how they hold one another, and themselves, accountable for racial equity in mathematics.

Abstract/Description: When preparing critical mathematics teachers, mathematics teacher educators may face resistance. We highlight two cases to illustrate the natures of possible resistance and provide tools for illuminating the invisible beliefs and assumptions that disrupt opportunities to learn about critical pedagogies.

Abstract/Description: This study investigated the attributes of 297 instances of student mathematical thinking during whole-class interactions that were identified as having the potential to foster learners’ understanding of important mathematical ideas (MOSTs). Attributes included the form of the thinking (e.g., question vs. declarative statement), whether the thinking was based on earlier work or generated in-the-moment, the accuracy of the thinking, and the type of the thinking (e.g., sense making). Findings both illuminate the complexity of identifying student thinking work building on during whole-class discussion and provide insight into important attributes of MOSTs that teachers can use to better recognize them.

Abstract/Description: Improving teachers’ practice of using student mathematical thinking requires an understanding of why teachers respond to student thinking as they do; that is, an understanding of the goals, orientations and resources (Schoenfeld, 2011) that underlie their enactment of this practice. we describe a scenario-based interview tool developed to prompt teachers to discuss their decisions and rationales related to using student thinking. We examine cases of two individual teachers to illustrate how the tool contributes to (1) inferring individual teachers’ goals, orientations and resources and (2) differentiating among teachers’ uses of student thinking.

Abstract/Description: A common characteristic of good lessons worldwide is that students are intellectually engaged in solving and reasoning through rich mathematical problems. I will share several problems that I have seen during observations in Japan and have subsequently used in the U.S. I will also discuss some features I have found common among these rich problems.

Abstract/Description: Presentations consider (1) the nature of student thinking (ST) available to teachers during instruction, (2) teachers’ perceptions of productive use of ST, and (3) teachers’ abilities to recognize and respond to ST. The work will be discussed in the broader context of developing a theory of productive use of ST.

Abstract/Description: Analyses of new middle grades textbooks across Ratio and Proportion and Geometry domains of the Common Core will be reported. Data will be shared related to mathematical content, types of representations, and comparisons. We will discuss how access to mathematics based on curriculum use poses a potential equity gap in implementing the Common Core.

Abstract/Description: The Common Core State Standards describes eight Mathematical Practice Standards for students’ engagement in mathematical work. NCTM introduced eight Mathematics Teaching Practices in Principles to Actions. How are these sets of practices related? Using video vignettes we will examine how effective teaching elicits authentic mathematical work.

Abstract/Description: The derivative is an important foundational concept in calculus that has applications in many fields of study. Existing frameworks for student understanding of the derivative are largely descriptive in nature, and there is little by way of theoretical frameworks that can explain or predict student difficulties in working with the derivative concept. In this paper we combine Zandieh’s framework for understanding the derivative with “analogical reasoning” from psychology into the “merged derivative-analog framework.” This framework allows us to take the useful descriptive capabilities of Zandieh’s framework and add a layer of explanatory power for student difficulties in applying the derivative to novel situations.