Notion Of Education Research Articles

Making Wine Without Grapes: The Case for Quality Teaching With Limited Resources

This article illustrates the significant role that creative, conscientious, dedicated, motivated, and committed teachers play in guiding, directing, and developing students' thinking, perspectives, and future lives. It highlights the importance of teacher agency in connecting learning to students' lives. It argues that good teachers can employ pedagogical practices that are not dependent on the availability of resources. It employs Pierre Bourdieu's theories of capital, field, and habitus to show how teachers can develop students' dispositions, consciousness, perceptions, perspectives, and lives. It also uses Nancy Fraser's theory of social justice to show how teachers can develop in working-class students, the essential knowledge, skills, and understandings that enable them to compete on a par with middle-class students. It uses life course theory to understand how the participants' schooling experiences, relationships, interconnectedness, and transitions influenced their thinking, doing, and lives. It employs a qualitative paradigm to explore five students' and one teacher's notions of how teaching and learning practices assisted the students to overcome the issue of inadequate resources. To locate the participants' perspectives and to analyse how their schooling experiences in the period 1968-1990 influenced their lives, the article uses the life history technique. The findings of the research stress that it is the inventiveness, competence, and attitude of the teacher that are the defining factors in the provision of quality education-not merely the availability of material resources.

Overcoming Challenges in Assessing Mathematical Reasoning

Despite mathematical reasoning being necessary for in-depth understanding of mathematical concepts, many teacher experience difficulty in assessing it. Data were collected from 34 primary teachers at 4 Victorian government schools at two post- lesson reflective sessions following lessons with a focus on reasoning. These sessions facilitated teachers’ collaborative efforts to assess their students’ reasoning from students’ work samples. The data included transcripts of all the reflective sessions; written work samples; and associated completed rubrics. Analysis of these data enabled identification of seven challenges teachers experienced in assessing reasoning: Limited guidance provided by curriculum documents; Teachers’ knowledge of reasoning; Teacher noticing and interpretation of student reasoning; Students’ difficulties in articulating their reasoning; Assessing progress in reasoning; Inadequacy of work samples; and Challenges in tracking and reporting student progress in reasoning. The discussion presents strategies to overcome these challenges.

Erasure or empowerment?: how pre-service teachers address disability when using children’s literature

Research suggests that in classrooms across the United States, teachers are hesitant to engage students in a discussion about disability. However, if children are not given opportunities to talk about disability, they run the risk of internalizing disability stereotypes or believing that discussing disability is not appropriate. In this paper, we use an explanatory, instrumental qualitative case study design to understand how 30 pre-service teachers (PSTs) notice and name disability when describing ideas for using children’s literature in the classroom. Additionally, we operationalize and build on Sapon-Shevin’s categorization of teachers’ responses to ableist behavior to examine the nuances of PST discussion. We found that most PSTs chose not to talk about disability or presented disability in a generic or potentially problematic way. This research provides necessary insight into the ways that teacher education programs can work with PSTs to effectively engage in disability discussion.

Language Pedagogy and Identity. Learning from Teachers’ Narratives in the Colombian ELT

This article examined two English teachers’ professional identities based on a series of interviews conducted in two universities in Bogotá, Colombia. This paper examined their experiences and discourses regarding language pedagogy. Accordingly, the study adopted a narrative methodology from a decolonial lens to put some tension on the normative conception of the traditional/hegemonic notions of pedagogy and teacher identities configured in the Colombian English Language Teaching (ELT) context. Findings revealed that teachers enact their language pedagogies by merging their personal selves with their professional ones. As a result, identities and ways of knowing are validated in negotiation between doing and being. This posture towards teaching exposes their ontological and epistemic struggles for humanizing their pedagogy.

Developing a frame for action with digital technology through extending teacher noticing

ABSTRACT Whilst video has become a central reflective tool in teacher education and teacher professional development, video-based collaborative reflection is just starting to gain traction as a research approach. The authors develop their understanding of this approach by examining how teacher noticing can be extended in teacher reflection. Specifically, they examine how the mix of collaborative interaction, use of video, and the discussion of selected incidents when focusing on specific aspects of practice leads to extended noticing and the creation of a ‘frame for action’. They focus on a research and development project that introduced a dialogic pedagogy around a microblogging tool in English secondary schools. Three teachers participated in meetings with researchers, presenting self-selected clips from their lessons for discussion. Analysis of audio-recorded meetings revealed teachers’ preparedness to extend understanding by building on others’ experiences. This led to the teachers developing frames for action for future lessons informed by professional dialogue.

Coaching to develop teacher professional noticing: planning with students and mathematics in mind

PurposeThis paper examines how intentional mathematics coaching practices can develop teacher professional noticing of “ambitious teaching practices” (NCTM, 2020) through connected, collaborative coaching cycles.Design/methodology/approachNarrative analysis is used to examine observations of a mathematics coach and novice teacher to better understand the role of the coach in helping teachers attend to ambitious mathematics teaching (AMT) practices.FindingsThe initial findings of this study suggest that intentional use of focused goals, iterative coaching cycles and a gradual release model of coaching can support shifts in noticing of AMT from being led by the coach to being facilitated by the teacher.Originality/valueThis study offers new insights into the functions of mathematics coaching that can foster shifts in teacher noticing and practice toward AMT. It contributes to the literature on what mathematics coaching looks and sounds like in the context of conversations with teachers, as well as the potential influence that structured, intentional, ongoing coaching supports can have on teacher noticing.

Impact of the Design of an Asynchronous Video-Based Learning Environment on Teacher Noticing and Mathematical Knowledge

In this paper, we share the design and impact of a set of two-hour online mathematics professional development modules adapted from face-to-face vide-based materials. The “Video in the Middle” (VIM) modules are aligned with principles of authentic e-learning and can be combined in a variety of ways to form professional development pathways that meet the unique needs of a wide range of professional learning settings and contexts. VIM modules aim to support teacher noticing of student thinking and increase their mathematical knowledge for teaching. The VIM materials are designed to be used in any of three flexible asynchronous formats: independent, locally facilitated, or developer facilitated. Preliminary research results indicate that teachers appreciated the variety of formats, found the modules useful and engaging, and learned to appreciate and use visual methods for solving problems, including using color to distinguish and highlight the relationship between numeric, algebraic, and geometric models.

Öğrencilerin Matematiksel Düşünme Sürecine Yönelik Öğretmen Farkındalığı ve Fark Etme Biçimleri

This study aims to examine teacher's noticing and noticing strategies towards student's mathematical thinking process. The case study was conducted in the lessons of a mathematics teacher teaching at the seventh grade level of a middle school in Ankara. Data was collected through semi-structured interviews with the teacher, in-class video recordings, student observations, and documents obtained from student studies. Four modeling activities relating statistical subjects were used to observe student's thinking process. The collected data were analyzed by content analysis and descriptive analysis method. There were figured out 3 categories of teacher’s noticing about student thinking: (a) conceptual understanding (b) procedural understanding (c) mathematical language use. It has been found that the teacher's noticing about student's thinking is mostly focused on conceptual understandings. Regarding the teacher's noticing strategies, the following categories were reached: a) Identification and description, (b) evaluation and interpretation, and (c) justification. The teacher defined the situations that she noticed in her students during the appropriate model development process as repetition, overhearing, and biased hearing. She interpreted the process or result of the situations she noticed and made various assessments. In justifying her comments, she presented evidence from students' rhetoric/behavior or offered predictions/assumptions based on her knowledge and expectations about their students.

Examining the Responding Component of Teacher Noticing: A Case of One Teacher’s Pedagogical Responses to Students’ Thinking in Classroom Artifacts

In this study, we investigated how an experienced fourth-grade teacher responded to her students’ thinking as part of her teacher noticing practice in a formative assessment context. Our primary purpose in doing this work was to decompose the responding component of teacher noticing and use our findings to present an emerging framework characterizing the multidimensional nature of this practice. We present two key outcomes based on the findings of this work. First, we show how a formative assessment context situated outside of instruction can engage teachers in practice-based noticing. Second, we present an emerging framework of the responding component of teacher noticing and discuss how it can be used by teacher educators to engage teachers in analytic work in ways that reveal the relationships between what teachers see in students’ thinking and how, when, and toward whom they respond.

A qualitative metasynthesis of video-based prompts and noticing in mathematics education

We conducted a qualitative metasynthesis of research focused on prompts used to elicit noticing following video observations within mathematics education. Forty-nine, peer-reviewed articles were selected based on specific criteria and analyzed using a defined approach to better understand the variations in the prompts mathematics teacher educators used as they supported teacher noticing. We also focused on research findings from articles with different types of prompts. Forty-five percent of articles included a general prompt and 55% a specific prompt. Findings based on articles in which authors used specific prompts reported the following: (a) video is a helpful tool to support the learning of noticing, (b) noticing is a skill that can be developed, (c) noticing ability differs between novice and expert teachers. Findings from articles with general prompts indicate the following: (a) teachers experienced a shift in noticing, (b) how teachers’ noticed changed, (c) video selection is critical for influencing teacher noticing.

Using Reflective Journals to Characterize Pre-Service Teacher Professional Noticing Skills

This study examined professional teacher noticing in the context of written responses 12 pre-service teachers (PSTs) provided in a reflective journal after posing addition and subtraction problems for students in an after-school tutoring program. Professional teacher noticing skills, attending, interpreting, and deciding, were situated within the well-defined mathematics content and associated trajectory of student strategies for the meaning of addition and subtraction. A three-point rubric was designed and utilized to analyze PST attending, interpreting, and deciding responses. Results characterize what PSTs “could do” relative to each skill as well as development of noticing skills over time. Results also highlight how PSTs included a rationale and next steps in deciding responses that related to supporting student understanding of the meaning of addition and subtraction, providing additional practice, and teaching solution strategies. Implications for teacher education are discussed.

When Students Use Technology Tools, What Are You Noticing?

A framework to guide teacher noticing when students are working in technology-mediated learning environments.

“It Depends …”: Using Ambiguities to Better Understand Mathematics Teachers’ Decision-making

The concept of teacher noticing has been a powerful methodological tool for understanding teachers’ decision-making and professional judgment. In this line of inquiry, researchers usually try to identify elements of classroom practice salient to teachers. Data about teacher noticing and decision making can be collected at scale through the use of scenario-based instruments, but these instruments have been described in the literature as inherently ambiguous because they do not contain all the information necessary to make a decision. We contribute to understanding this ambiguity so as to help connect teacher noticing to their professional judgment by introducing the concept of conditional construals—moments when teachers require additional context in order to judge whether a given teaching action is appropriate. Furthermore, we locate conditional construals in a large corpus of responses to scenario-based items by identifying occurrences of a linguistic marker. Our identification of these moments allows us to study the type of reasoning (analytical or intuitive) evoked by these scenarios and gives us insight into the information teachers require to make decisions.

Mathematics teacher learning to notice: a systematic review of studies of video-based programs

Teacher noticing has become increasingly acknowledged as a fundamental aspect of teacher professional competence. Teacher education scholars have examined how the development of noticing might be supported both in initial teacher education and in professional development. In mathematics teacher education, several studies have explored the use of video as a supporting tool for teacher noticing. It remains unclear how this body of work builds on the various theoretical perspectives of noticing prevalent in the literature, thus broadening our understanding of noticing. Furthermore, the field has not examined systematically the extent to which research has leveraged the affordances of digital video technologies, and whether scholars have employed different research methods to answer questions that are critical to teacher educators. This survey paper reviews studies published in the last two decades on programs centered on mathematics teacher noticing that used video as a supporting tool for teacher learning. Thirty-five peer-reviewed papers written in English were identified and coded along three dimensions: (1) theoretical perspectives; (2) use of video technologies; and (3) research questions and methods. This review summarizes important findings and highlights several directions for future research. Most studies involved pre-service teachers, and only a few centered on in-service teachers. Developers of the large majority of programs took a cognitive psychological perspective and focused on the attending/perceiving and interpreting/reasoning facets of noticing. Few studies used video-based software and few studies used grouping, and even fewer used randomized grouping. Evidence of program effects on responding and decision making, and on instructional practice, is limited and should be extended in the future.

Growth of professional noticing of mathematics teachers: a comparative study of Chinese teachers noticing with different teaching experiences

The last decade has witnessed increasing interest in the study of teacher noticing in mathematics education research; however, little is known about the growth of teacher noticing and how it is influenced by teaching practice. Departing from the expert-novice-paradigm, in this paper we address this research gap by a cross-sectional study that investigates how Chinese mathematics teachers’ noticing is affected by their developmental stage, measured by the length of their teaching experience. The study included 152 pre-service teachers at the end of their initial teacher education, 162 early career teachers with one to five years’ teaching experience, and 123 experienced mathematics teachers with more than 15 years’ teaching experience, who participated in a video-based assessment of their noticing competency conceptualized by the sub-facets of perception, interpretation, and decision-making. Our findings indicate a nearly linear growth in teacher noticing among Chinese mathematics teachers, with significant differences identified between pre-service and experienced teachers and only small differences between pre-service and early career teachers. Analyses using the method of Differential Item Functioning (DIF) further suggest that pre-service and early career teachers demonstrated strengths in aspects more related to reform-oriented or Westernized approaches to mathematics teaching, such as working with open-ended tasks, identifying characteristics of cooperative learning, and mathematical modeling tasks. By contrast, experienced teachers demonstrated strengths in perceiving students’ thinking, evaluating teachers’ behavior, and analyzing students’ mathematical thinking. Our findings further highlight that the three sub-facets of teacher noticing develop differently within the three participating groups of teachers. These findings suggest that teaching experience acts as one influential factor in the development of teacher noticing in the Chinese context.

Productive teacher noticing and affordances of typical problems

Productive teacher noticing and affordances of typical problems

Expanding on prior conceptualizations of teacher noticing

While recent research demonstrates that teacher noticing is a core construct of teaching, it also raises new questions about this construct. Here, we offer an expanded framework that addresses three key questions. Specifically, we suggest that attending involves not only selecting particular features of instruction to observe, but also disregarding aspects of classroom interactions that are less consequential. In addition, we propose that a stance of inquiry about observed phenomena is central to drawing inferences about observed phenomena. Finally, we extend the boundaries of teacher noticing to include shaping, the act of creating interactions that provide increased opportunities to attend to and interpret noteworthy mathematical interactions. In other words, teachers are not simply passive bystanders in the act of noticing, rather they shape interactions to gain access to additional information to allow for further observation and interpretation of student thinking.

Prospective teachers’ noticing: A literature review of methodological approaches to support and analyze noticing

This systematic literature review highlights consistencies and differences in methodological processes of research focused on prospective teacher noticing. Six-hundred-eleven articles were initially identified; 43 of those were analyzed in depth. Of the anaylzed articles, researchers primarily used one of two frameworks for noticing (i.e. Professional Noticing or Learning to Notice). Despite some methodological similarities, researchers used different time durations for learning experiences and measured noticing at different intervals. Analysis of study results indicate that many researchers found mixed or neutral participant outcomes for developing noticing. Researchers using the Learning to Notice Framework reported positive results more often than researchers using the Professional Noticing Framework.

How context specific is teachers\u2019 analysis of how representations are dealt with in classroom situations? Approaching a context-aware measure for teacher noticing

Although raised in the early days of research on teacher noticing, the question of context specificity has remained largely unanswered to this day. In this study, we build on our prior research on a specific aspect of noticing, namely teachers’ analysis of how representations are dealt with in mathematics classroom situations. For the purpose of such analysis, we examined the role of context on the levels of mathematical content area and classroom situation. Using a vignette-based test instrument with 12 classroom situations from the content areas of fractions and functions, we investigated how teachers’ analyses regarding the use of representations are related concerning these two mathematical content areas. Beyond content areas, we were interested in the question of whether an overarching unidimensional competence construct can be inferred from the participants’ analyses of the different individual classroom situations. The 12 vignettes were analysed by N = 175 secondary mathematics teachers with different degrees of teaching experience and their written answers provided the data for this study. Our findings show that the data fit the Rasch model and that all classroom situations contributed in a meaningful way to the competence under investigation. There was no significant effect of the mathematical content area on the participants’ analyses regarding the use of multiple representations. The results of the study indicate that explicitly considering questions of context can strengthen research into teacher noticing.

In‐service mathematics teachers’ video‐based noticing of 3D printing pens “in action”

AbstractWe adopt five observation categories, namely classroom management, classroom environment, communication, mathematical content and tasks, to analyse four in‐service secondary mathematics teachers’ noticing upon watching video episodes showing an actual mathematics lesson that implemented 3D Printing Pens for teaching and learning shape and space. We use coding to analyse what the participants generally identified as important or noteworthy in the video. Moreover, we employ thematic analysis to delve deeper into the participants’ interpretations and decisions in relation to using 3D Pens for teaching and learning mathematics. Our findings have implications for teachers’ professional development in the area of technology integration especially in terms of their realisation of the affordances of novel‐to‐them technologies. We also report methodological and conceptual contributions towards teacher noticing. Practitioner notesWhat is already known about this topic Various frameworks have been proposed for conceptualising teachers’ expertise in technology‐rich pedagogies; however, few have addressed teachers’ initial experience of adopting a novel‐to‐them technology in subject teaching. In teacher education, the method of video‐based noticing has been widely undertaken in the last two decades to help preservice and in‐service teachers visualise complex classroom situations and interpret classroom events. What this paper adds This study investigates what in‐service mathematics teachers find significant, the pedagogical considerations they make and their professional development in integrating technologies for teaching and learning mathematics. Particularly, video‐based noticing is used as a means for facilitating teachers’ professional growth through realising the affordances of 3D Printing Pens in mathematics education. Implications for practice and/or policy This study provides qualitative evidence that video‐based noticing was productive in facilitating teachers’ technological, pedagogical and content knowledge (TPACK), in particular, in realising the educational affordances of a novel‐to‐them technology. The videos captured the dynamic process of students’ drawing with 3D Pens “in action” rather than merely capturing their final products in a static manner, which facilitated the teachers’ reflections about the evolution of students’ mathematical thinking.