ERIC Number: ED657933
Record Type: Non-Journal
Publication Date: 2023
Pages: 9
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: N/A
EISSN: N/A
How a Teaching Practice That Builds on Student Thinking Helps Teachers Draw out Conceptual Connections
Joshua M. Ruk; Laura R. Van Zoest
North American Chapter of the International Group for the Psychology of Mathematics Education, Paper presented at the Annual Meeting of the North American Chapter of the International Group for the Psychology of Mathematics Education (45th, Reno, NV, Oct 1-4, 2023)
Past research has identified factors that help maintain the cognitive demand of tasks, including "drawing conceptual connections." We investigated whether teachers who were engaging in the teaching practice of "building"--and thus focusing the class on collaboratively making sense of their peers' high-leverage mathematical contributions--drew conceptual connections at a higher rate than has been found in previous work. The rate was notably higher (54% compared to 14%). By comparing multiple enactments of the same task, we found that this higher rate of drawing conceptual connections seemed to be supported by (1) eliciting student utterances that delve more deeply into the underlying mathematics, (2) giving students more time to explore the underlying math, and (3) using previously learned abstractions to help move the class toward understanding the new abstract concepts underlying a task. [For the complete proceedings, see ED657822.]
Descriptors: Mathematics Instruction, Thinking Skills, Teaching Methods, Mathematical Concepts, Cooperative Learning, Concept Formation, Comparative Analysis, Time Factors (Learning), Classroom Communication, Middle School Teachers, Middle School Students, Action Research, Teacher Student Relationship
North American Chapter of the International Group for the Psychology of Mathematics Education. e-mail: pmena.steeringcommittee@gmail.com; Web site: http://www.pmena.org/
Publication Type: Speeches/Meeting Papers; Reports - Research
Education Level: Junior High Schools; Middle Schools; Secondary Education
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: National Science Foundation (NSF), Division of Research on Learning in Formal and Informal Settings (DRL)
Authoring Institution: N/A
Grant or Contract Numbers: 1720410; 1720566; 1720613