Keith Leatham recently published an article titled “Teachers’ orientations toward using student mathematical thinking as a resource during whole-class discussion” in the Journal for Research in Mathematics Education. Keith has answered a few questions about this article below:
Who were your co-authors on this article?
Shari L. Stockero from Michigan Technological University, Mary A. Ochieng from University of Strathmore in Nairobi, Kenya, Laura R. Van Zoest from Western Michigan University, and Blake E. Peterson from Brigham Young University.
Who would you say is the target audience for this article?
Mathematics teacher educators.
What is the big problem you hoped to address with this article?
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. To that end, the purpose of this study is to characterize teachers’ orientations toward using student mathematical thinking as a resource during whole-class instruction.
What are some of the key ideas in the article?
We identified high-potential orientations that position student thinking as a particularly valuable resource during whole-class instruction by placing value on students directly interacting with one another by hearing other students’ explanations, and questioning, comparing, critiquing, and discussing their peers’ ideas. We also identified hindering orientations that position student thinking as needing to be evaluated and corrected, and place value on highly scaffolded learning experiences in which the teacher’s role is to explain and demonstrate mathematical ideas. The orientations at the extremes of the continuum are likely to have substantial impact on a teacher’s development of the practice of building and thus would be of interest to the field.