In this article we examine the activities of 2 public lessons prepared and conducted by a group of elementary school teachers in China. We employ the conceptual lens of deliberate practice to understand how the public lesson activities possibly contributed to improvement of the teachers' knowledge and instructional performance. We found that…

The treatment of errors in mathematics classrooms has gained attention in recent years, with many researchers suggesting that errors should be used as starting points for student inquiry into mathematics. In the study reported in this article, we examined how teachers used discourse around errors to generate inquiry by looking at the treatment of…

Analyzed the collaboration of a first-grade novice teacher and her mentor teacher while the novice learned to teach mathematics in China. Found that the mentor contributed to novice teacher's progress by implementing a clear, consistent focus; modeling, analyzing, and reflecting on mathematics teachers; and defining and refining the zones of the…

Provides an overview of the issues shaping efforts to reform elementary education in the People's Republic of China. China's school organization and practices invite comparison with aspects of the U.S. system of elementary education. Enduring features of Chinese elementary education are discussed. (Author/BB)