Академический Документы
Профессиональный Документы
Культура Документы
Children's Mathematical Thinking
in Everyday Mathematics
Classrooms
Journal for Research in Mathematics Education
1999, Vol. 30, No. 2,148170
Judith L. Fraivillig, Rider University
Lauren A. Murphy and Karen C. Fuson, Northwestern University
In this article we present and describe a pedagogical framework that supports children's
development of conceptual understanding of mathematics. The framework for Advancing
Children's Thinking (ACT) was synthesized from an indepth analysis of observed and
reported data from 1 skilful Istgrade teacher using the Everyday Mathematics (EM)
curriculum. The ACT framework comprises 3 components: Eliciting Children's Solution
Methods, Supporting Children's Conceptual Understanding, and Extending Children's
Mathematical Thinking. The framework guided a crossteacher analysis over 5 additional
EM 1 stgrade teachers. This comparison indicated that teachers often supported children's
mathematical thinking but less often elicited or extended children's thinking. 'Me ACT
framework can contribute to educational research, teacher education, and the design of
mathematics curricula.
Key Words: Pedagogical knowledge; Professional development; Reform in mathematics education; Teaching
(role, style, methods); Teaching effectiveness; Teaching practice
1
understanding of mathematics, specifically, the redefined roles and new instructional strategies of
classroom teachers.
The research reported in this article is based on a dissertation study and was supported by
the National Science Foundation (NSF) under Grant ESI 9252984. The opinions expressed in
this article are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of NSF. The
authors would like to recognize the support and cooperation of all participating teachers,
particularly that of Priscilla Smith. She openly invited the authors to observe her classroom
community and willingly shared her thoughtful reflections. The authors would also like to
thank Erin Sewell for her extensive help with management of the database.
2
Cobb and his colleagues have articulated the social norms teachers need to establish to create
mathematics classrooms that focus on the development of children's thinking (Cobb, Wood,
Yackel, & McNeal, 1992) and on the changing profiles of teachers' roles (Cobb, Yackel, & Wood,
1989; Yackel, 1995; Yackel, Cobb, & Wood, 1991). They emphasized children's engagement in
personally meaningful mathematical activity, children's explanation and justification of personal
solution methods, children's willingness and ability to make sense of their peers' solution
methods, and children's collaborative work that focuses on challenging their classmates. Important
teachers' roles in this type of classroom include establishing and guiding the development of these
social norms, facilitating the discourse among students while they engage in collaborative problem
solving, and supporting children's developing understanding of adequate mathematical
explanations (Yackel, 1995).
Establishing classroom norms that support children's development of conceptual
understanding of mathematics requires teacher knowledge about both mathematics teaching and
children's mathematical thinking. The Cognitively Guided Instruction (CGI) group has identified
types of teacher knowledge necessary for creating mathematics classrooms in which student
inquiry and explanation of solution methods are encouraged (Carpenter, Fennema, Peterson, &
Carey, 1988; Carpenter, Fennema, Peterson, Chiang, & Loef, 1989; Peterson, Carpenter, & Fennema,
1989), but to date there has been insufficient articulation of particular instructional strategies
teachers could use once classroom social norms are established. The notion that children construct
their own solution methods and math. ematical meanings creates confusion about the nature of
teachers' roles in inquiry classrooms. Conversations about inquirybased mathematics classrooms
often carry the assumption that teachers should merely elicit children's thinking without
intervening. We argue that teachers can and should intervene to advance children's thinking.
Our purpose in this article is to contribute to the understanding of how teachers can most
effectively advance children's mathematical thinking in inquiry based mathematics classrooms
without undermining children's intellectual autonomy. Instructional strategies used by skilful
teachers to support flexibility in children's reasoning about solution methods and to encourage
participation in intellectually sophisticated mathematical discussions are identified and
articulated. The theoretical perspectives on the classroom interactions reported stem from a
constructivist view of knowledge and knowing (Cobb, Yackel, & Wood, 1993; Confrey, 1995;
Greeno, 1988; Simon, 1995; von Glasersfeld, 1987) and from a Vygotskian view of teaching as
creating successive zones of proximal development (Vygotsky, 1978).
Our purpose led us to investigate the instructional practices of teachers who were using a
curriculum that reflects the recommendations for curricular change, as found in the NCTM
Curriculum and Evaluation Standards (1989). During the course of the study one teacher quickly
emerged as a truly exceptional teacher whose mathematics teaching practice was best aligned with
the Professional Standards for Teaching Mathematics (NCTM, 1991). Children in this teacher's class
actively engaged in mathematical problem solving, eagerly discussed complex mathematical
issues, and were excited by intellectual challenges. Indepth analysis of both this teacher's practice
and her reflections about her teaching illuminated the reasons for the qualitative differences in her
students' thinking: Many instructional moves made by the teacher were intended to advance
children's mathematical thinking.
3
The indepth analysis of aspects of this teacher's mathematics instruction led us to organize
observed strategies into a framework for elucidating effective mathematics teaching. In this report
we present, describe, and elaborate this framework for examining classrooms and teaching
practices. We also provide examples of skilful mathematics instruction, both to define the
framework and to facilitate teaching that reflects the recommendations of the Professional Standards
for Teaching Mathematics (NCTM, 1991) by articulating these types of instructional strategies. The
relevant factors for advancing children's mathematical thinking derived from our casestudy
teacher are detailed and used as a basis for examining the instructional practices of all
participating teachers. Additionally, we analysed in greater detail the instructional practices of a
subset of teachers we identified as being skilled. Although this study was primarily a case study of
one teacher, to more fully illustrate the instructional framework we briefly present findings from
the crossteacher comparison and analyses of all 18 participating teachers' practices.
Identification and synthesis of this instructional framework, based on observed practices of
mathematics teachers using instructional strategies that reflected the recommendations of the
NCTM Standards (1991), come at a critical time in the study of mathematics education. Until now,
much of the current knowledge base of mathematics teaching emerged from previous studies of
practitioners who lacked constructivist orientations and who relied heavily on traditional images
and methods of teaching and learning (Simon, 1995). A need exists, therefore, for pedagogical
frameworks supporting instructional goals that are consistent with a constructivist perspective.
Documenting the instructional practices of teachers who provide students with opportunities to
explore mathematical concepts and to synthesize their own mathematical meanings seems to be
one productive way to generate fruitful descriptions of effective mathematics teaching.
METHODS
This study of firstgrade teachers' implementation of a new curriculum is embedded within a
larger, 5year longitudinal study charting the mathematics achievement of a cohort of firstgrade
students using the Everyday Mathematics (EM) curriculum. Everyday Mathematics, the published
name of the University of Chicago School Mathematics Project (UCSMP) curriculum, is an
activityoriented elementary grades mathematics curriculum that draws on the child's "rich store
of mathematical understanding and information" (Bell & Bell, 1995, p. iii).
Participants
The participants of the firstyear EM implementation study were 18 firstgrade teachers with
1 to 4 years of experience using the EM curriculum. All 18 participating teachers were selected
from a range of 10 schools in the Chicago metropolitan area. Several teachers in the sample were
nominated by EM staff as exemplary teachers. Two researchers made separate visits on two
different days to observe the teachers' mathematics classes. From these nominations and the
observations, the researchers identified 6 teachers in 6 different schools as being skilful EM
teachers. These 6 teachers were grouped in a sample designated as "skilful teachers." Five of the
4
nominated skilful teachers were from suburban schools, and one of the teachers was from an
urban religious school.
One of the six skilful teachers emerged as being distinct from the others in the group. This
teacher, Ms. Smith (her real name used by her choice), was selected as the subject of this case
study. At the time of the study, she had taught for 29 years; 18 of those years were at the firstgrade
level, and she was then teaching in a midsized town bordering Chicago. Her class of 19 students
exhibited a remarkable range of ability levels, with many students lying at the extremes of the
achievement spectrum.
Observations
Each of the 18 participating teachers was observed twice teaching designated EM lessons.
Each of the 6 skilful teachers, including Ms. Smith, was observed two additional times teaching
lessons of her choice. For these additional observations, the skilful teachers were asked to choose
lessons to highlight their mathematics teaching and their students' abilities.
The instruments used to gather instructional practices data are described below. (See
Fraivillig, 1996, for fuller descriptions and copies of the instruments.)
Classroom Observation Instrument
We used the Classroom Observation Instrument (COI) to organize data on teacher lesson
planning, classroom practices, and "onthefly" decision making. The COI included a brief
orientation survey to be completed by the teacher before the classroom observation, a format for
recording classroomobservation notes, and a protocol for a post observation interview with the
teacher immediately following the observation. During the post observation interview, each
teacher was asked to reveal her decisionmaking rationale and to comment on particular events
that occurred during the lesson. The preobservation survey and the post observation interview
protocol were adapted from the Quantitative Understanding: Amplifying Student Achievement
and Reasoning (QUASAR) Classroom Observation Instrument (Stein, Grover, & Silver, 1991).
Classroom Observations and Observation Summaries
The four lessons taught by each of the 6 skilful teachers were observed by two researchers
who took detailed notes and completed the Classroom Observation Instrument. One observer
focused on the teacher and the other on the students. Because of scheduling constraints, the role of
student observer was filled by two different people. All three observers in this study were
graduates of teacher education programs, and two of them were former teachers. Additionally,
each observed class was videotaped with two video cameras; one camera focused on the teacher
and the other on the students. The same datacollection procedures were used for the observed
lessons of the other 12 teachers except that the lessons were not videotaped.
5
After the classroom observation sessions, each observer wrote a lesson summary that was
based on the detailed field notes, recent memory, and, when available, videotaped recordings.
Observers writing these descriptive reductions were guided by prompts to structure the
observational data into identifiable categories across teachers. The guidelines for the teacher
observer focused on the classroom's social climate, the teacher's support of students' mathematical
thinking, and the teacher's questions. The guidelines for the student observer highlighted
classroom organizational functioning, the quality of students' mathematical thinking, and
noteworthy practices that occurred in the lesson. Observers read one another's summaries and
discussed and resolved any inconsistencies.
The six skilful teachers selected for indepth study were asked to read modified versions of
the summaries of their observed classes to check for accuracy and agreement and to provide
possible elaboration or revision. Interviews with the casestudy teacher, Ms. Smith, were
conducted during the analysis phase and focused. on her teaching and on general aspects of the
Everyday Mathematics curriculum. These conversations served two purposes. First, the retrospective
remarks furnished by Ms. Smith lent additional support to our emerging understanding of her
instructional practices. Second, her insights and critiques of specific events recorded in our
observational data provided a useful basis for subsequent curriculum revision. Synopses of
interviews were submitted to the Everyday Mathematics curriculum developers. (Inclusion of the
teachers' voices in the analysis process reflects the recent shift in teacher research toward a
hermeneutic orientation: a concern for understanding how teachers think about teaching and
learning. Conducting research in collaboration with teachers may enhance the validity of
hermeneutic studies [Connelly & Clandinin, 1990; Elliott, 1988; Richardson, 1994]).
DATA ANALYSIS
From reading the interviews and observation summaries, we generated a coding system for
classifying the teachercognition and teacher practices data. To facilitate the researchers' access to
related information, all data were coded and entered into a qualitative database (Helix Express,
1993). Data were retrieved from the database by code. We examined in detail the data tagged with
codes relating to the topic of advancing student thinking, which was the most salient feature of
Ms. Smith's instruction.
Through recursive analysis of observed and reported data regarding Ms. Smith, we
developed multiple classification schemes, the most fruitful of which was a framework for
characterizing the central aspects of Ms. Smith's instructional practices (Fraivillig, 1995). We then
identified attributes of this framework (described in the next section) to guide a comparative
analysis across data on the other five skilful teachers. This comparative analysis (undertaken by all
three authors collaboratively) involved cycles of discussion of teaching traits that fostered student
thinking interspersed with videotape analysis to identify other attributes or to clarify aspects of
those attributes identified.
We aimed to draw on multiple perspectives; therefore, one author participated in all the
original observations, one watched most of the videotapes, and the third watched at least one
videotape from each teacher. In addition, two other researchers who had been involved in the live
6
observations contributed to the comparative analysis. All five researchers agreed upon the
findings being reported in this article. Ms. Smith, the subject of the case study, also read and
reacted to the descriptive accounts of her teaching. Finally, analyses of data for the full group of 18
teachers were carried out simultaneously (Diamond & Fuson, 1997; Fuson, Diamond, & Fraivillig,
1997), and we draw upon these analyses to indicate the extent to which the full group exhibited
practices described within the framework.
RESULTS
In our analysis of interview and observational data concerning Ms. Smith's instruction, we
found patterns of practices Ms. Smith used to access children's understanding and to assist and
challenge children in their thinking. Three separable, though overlapping, components that
comprised Ms. Smith's teaching practices were identified: (a) Eliciting Children's Solution
Methods (Eliciting), (b) Supporting Children's Conceptual Understanding (Supporting), and (c)
Extending Children's Mathematical Thinking (Extending). These three related teaching
components and the particular classroom climate in which they occurred form the basis of a
framework used to describe observed examples of successful mathematics teaching. We used this
framework, titled the Advancing Children's Thinking (ACT) framework (see the center section of
Figure 1), to organize the casestudy description of Ms. Smith's teaching practices and to analyse
the data from observations of the other five skilful EM teachers.
The study's results are presented in two parts. In the bulk of the results we focus on a case
study of Ms. Smith and her instructional methods for advancing children's mathematical thinking.
A description of the ACT framework, developed from our notes on Ms. Smith's instruction, is
included (see Table 1 and Figure 1). In our organization of the report of the case study we were
guided largely by the ACT framework itself. The second part of the results contains a brief
crossteacher analysis that includes noteworthy practices of the other 5 skilful teachers that differ
from aspects of the casestudy teaching. A data analysis of elicitation patterns from the overall
sample of 18 participating teachers is also cited.
7
Allows additional time for student
Asks entire class to generate alternative
thinking
solution methods
Assists students with their narrations
Uses challenging follow-up questions
Probes students for better descriptions of
Highlights and discusses errors
solution methods
ELICITING
SUPPORTING EXTENDING
Figure 1. Diagram of the Advancing Children's Thinking (ACT) framework and the teaching
strategies that reside in the intersections between and among the instructional components of
the ACT framework.
CASE STUDY AND FRAMEWORK DESCRIPTION
Eliciting Children’s Solution Methods
The first compoonent of the ACT framework is Eliciting Children’s Solution Methods.
Eliciting describes Ms. Smith’s efforts to provide students with the opportunity and necessary
encouragement to express their ideas about mathematics (see Table 1). Ascertaining what students
know and how they think about mathematical concepts is a critical element fro advancing
children’s thinking. By eliciting students’ responses, teachers can orchestrate learning
opportunities for all students while assessing individual children’s thinking (Yeckel, 1995). Ideally
, teachers employ elicitation to promote and manage classroom interactions, teaching goals
8
espoused by thr NCTM i (1991). The elicited student student responses generate the substance for
classroom discussions.
9
Table 1
Examples of Instructional Strategies Employed to Elicit, Suport, and Extend Children’s Mathematical Thinking
Instructional componemts of ACT famework
Eliciting Supporting Extending
Facilitates students’ Supports describer’s thinking Maintains high standards and
responding expectations for all students
♦ Reminds students of
♦ Elicits many solution
conceptually similar problem ♦ Asks all students to attempt to
methods for one solve difficult problems and to
situations
problem from the try various solution methods
entire class
♦ Provides background
knowledge Encourages mathematical
♦ Waits for and listens
reflection
to students’
descriptions of ♦ Directs group help for an
individual student ♦ Encourages students to
solution methods
analyse, compare, and
♦ Encourages ♦ Assists individual students in generalise mathematical
elaboration of clarifying their own solution concepts
students’ responses methods
♦ Encourages students to
♦ Conveys accepting Supports listeners’ thinking consider and discuss
attitude towards interrelationships among
students’ errors and ♦ Provides teacherled instant concepts
problem solving replays
efforts ♦ Lists all solution methods on
♦ Demonstrates teacherselected the board to promote
♦ Promotes
solution methods without reflection
collaborative
endorsing the adoption of a
problem solving
particular method Goes beyond initial solution
methods
Orchestrates classroom
discussions Supports describer’s and
listeners’ thinking ♦ Pushes individual students to
♦ Uses students try alternative solution
explanations for ♦ Records symbolic methods for one problem
lesson’s content representation of each situation
solution method on the board
♦ Monitors students’ ♦ Promotes use of more efficient
levels of engagement ♦ Asks a different students to solution methods for all
explain a peer’s method students
♦ Decides which
students need
Supports individuals in private ♦ Uses students’ responses,
opportunities to
help sessions questions, and problems as
speak publicly or
core lesson
which methods
♦ Encourages students to
should be discussed
request assistance (only when Cultivates love of challenge
needed)
10
Facilitates Students’ Responding
In our analysis of the contexts of elicitation in Ms. Smith’s class we noted several attributes
associated with successful elicitation. Each of these is briefly described.
Elicits many solutions for one problem. Ms Smith attempted to elicit many solution methods from the
students. She asked questions such as “Who else did it another way?” “Did anyone do something
else that Allan did not do?” “Is there anything else you can use besides your fingers and a number
line?" Ms. Smith believed that allowing students to explain their solution methods was not only an
important component of classroom discourse but was also the key to her students' mathematical
success. Ms. Smith orchestrated the discussions in her classroom to provide students with
opportunities to communicate their mathematical thinking.
Waits for and listens to students' descriptions of solution methods. It was our initial expectation that the
rudimentary communicative skills of waiting for and listening to students' responses would be
well developed among our observed teachers. Our data indicate, though, that many of these
teachers allowed insufficient wait time, thereby needlessly introducing a sense of urgency into
students' often slowtoemerge explanatory processes. In this regard, Ms. Smith was exceptional in
promoting a sense of calm and patience in her classroom discussions.
Encourages elaboration. In addition to allowing students adequate response time, Ms. Smith
encouraged students to describe fully their solution methods and often used probing questions to
promote elaboration. On occasion, she assisted the student in the articulation of his or her method.
Conveys accepting attitude toward students' errors and efforts. Teachers' attitudes toward students'
commentary can have a tremendous effect in the elicitation process. Students in Ms. Smith's class
recognized that they were not going to be evaluated on the basis of the correctness of their initial
responses. Ms. Smith accepted and often highlighted children's errors. In fact, she explicitly told
her students, "Don't worry about the answer yet," giving them time to explore various
problemsolving strategies before evaluating the answer. When students made errors, Ms. Smith
often let them try to identify their own mistakes. She conveyed a sense of believing that students
could find the correct answer if they thought more carefully.
Promotes collaborative problem solving. The teacher and her students exhibited mutual respect,
communicated using adultlike banter, and worked as a team to solve problems. Ms. Smith
revealed to students times when she herself did not immediately know an answer. The ensuing
collaborative effort to solve a problem created a feeling of intellectual excitement and team spirit in
the class.
Orchestrates Classroom Discussions
11
Uses students' explanations for the lesson's content. An important feature of eliciting is that students'
articulated ideas can provide the content of classroom discussions. Ms. Smith relied on the
students' explanations and demonstrations of solution methods and their mathematical questions
for the lesson's content. She usually listed all students' methods on the board so that they could be
remembered and referred to in class discussions.
Monitors students' levels of engagement. Ms. Smith monitored students' engagement levels in
discussions while one student explained his or her solution method. She asked other students to
explain a previously voiced solution method (a) to maintain student attention, (b) to provide
opportunities for students to revoice explanations given by other students, and (c) to emphasize
the social norm that students were expected to listen and try to understand other students'
descriptions of solution methods.
Decides which students need opportunities to report. Some teachers in the overall sample used eliciting
merely as a turntaking mechanism and did not purposefully select or utilize particular students'
responses. In contrast, Ms. Smith intentionally called on students who used a solution method she
wanted to include in the class discussion as well as on those who needed opportunities to speak in
front of their peers or required additional assistance. Ms. Smith often did not call on students
whom she thought knew how to solve the target problem. At the same time, however, she
recognized advanced students' responses that indicated their understanding of a problem, and she
publicly confirmed their contributions to the class. For example, Ms. Smith noticed a
highachieving student's raised hand and said, "I know you know the answer," and proceeded to
call on a different student.
Supporting Children's Conceptual Understanding
We discuss next Ms. Smith's pedagogical decisions about and her treatment of the elicited
responses. Specifically, we sketch her instructional techniques that supported children in carrying
out solution methods that were within their current cognitive capabilities. When and how Ms.
Smith supported children's thinking is summarized here (see Table 1).
We identify and describe four categories of instructional techniques that fall within the
Supporting component of our model: supports describer's thinking, supports listeners' thinking,
supports describer's and listeners' thinking, and supports individuals in private help sessions. The
utility of this distinction arises from the teacher's four qualitatively different and important
functional goals for providing support in the classroom. Our classification is meant both to make
explicit the primary function of each aspect of instruction and to illustrate that a single teaching
action can serve multiple goals (e.g., supporting the describer's thinking can also be helpful in
supporting the listeners' thinking and vice versa).
Supports Describer's Thinking
Directs group help for an individual student. Ms. Smith sometimes elicited the assistance of the whole
class to support a particular student's mathematical thinking. The result was a camaraderie that
provided affective as well as cognitive support.
Assists individual students in clarifying their own solution methods. Many teachers in the study
provided demonstrations and verbal clarifications when verbal descriptions of students' particular
solution methods did not seem to be forthcoming or when descriptions were unclear. The
observed teachers often revoiced and demonstrated the students' methods. As an alternative to
clarifying a student's solution method herself, Ms. Smith asked other students in the class to
explain the methods proposed by their peers (see the upcoming section on support of describer's
and listeners' thinking). Sometimes Ms. Smith provided verbal descriptions to accompany a
student's demonstration of a solution method. This strategy provided children with vocabulary
and examples that they could use or modify themselves in future descriptions of their own
methods, an important form of support for first graders who may not be experienced in describing
their own mathematical thinking.
Supports Listeners' Thinking
Provides teacher led instant replays. Teachers can support learning for students who are in the same
learning zoneand extend the thinking of other students by clarifying students' descriptions of
solution methods and slowing the pace of discussions and demonstrations. In the following
example from Ms. Smith's classroom, an advanced student described her solution method for a
problem [2 + 3 + 1 + 1 + 1 + 3]; there followed a stepbystep replay led by the teacher:
S: I went, "Two plus three is five"; and 1 added one and that's six; and one more,
that's seven; and 1 added one more; that's eight.
T. Okay, so you did it like this: Two plus three is five, right? [Ms. Smith drew two
lines connecting the 2 and the 3 and wrote 5.1 Plus one equals....
S: Six [Ms. Smith wrote 5 + 1 = 61.
T ...........Six. And then plus one equals
S: Seven [Ms. Smith wrote 6 + 1 71.
T. And then plus one equals
S: Eight [Ms. Smith wrote 7 + 1 81.
13
T.. Eight. And then eight plus three?
S: And then I did three more, and 1 ended up with eleven [Ms. Smith wrote 8 + 3 =11].
In this case Ms. Smith revisited the solution method in a slow and dialogic fashion so that the
ownership of the method remained the student's, but the "instant replay," expansion, and
clarification of the method made it more comprehensible to other students and possibly to the
teacher herself.
Demonstrates teacher selected solution methods. Teachers in the overall sample were observed
guiding students in demonstrating solution methods that they themselves had previously
selected. Rarely did teachers explicitly articulate that their selected method was merely a
suggestion and not a required model to follow. In contrast, Ms. Smith demonstrated her own or
the students' solution methods while making repeated, explicit statements intended to
preclude students from feeling that they should adopt her solution methods or those of other
students.
Supports Describer's and Listeners' Thinking
Records symbolic representation of each solution method on the chalkboard. A teacher can provide
symbolic references for children's problemsolving explanations by recording mathematical
notations on the chalkboard. In all observed lessons, Ms. Smith recorded symbols that could
represent the steps of children's verbal solution methods. During an interview, Ms. Smith
stated, "Recording on the board assists students in following the procedure. Some students
must see the numbers. Constant review of this helps them write the digits." At all times this
symbolic transcript helped students link the verbal description of the solution method with the
written mathematical marks and diagrams that represented quantities.
Asks a different student to explain. The relationship between a describer and listener was clarified
through Ms. Smith's instructional technique of having students rephrase or elaborate on their
peers' solution methods. Responding to Ms. Smith's request that a different student explain a
child's method required the describer to articulate the highlighted solution method, provided
all learners with an alternative version of the explanation, and instantiated the classroom
norms of collaborative problem solving and shared intellectual authority.
Supports Individuals in Private Help Sessions
Encourages students to request assistance. Encouraging students to admit when they need help is
an important way for the teacher to support students' learning. Ms. Smith established as a
classroom norm that any student's need for extra help was accepted and expected. At the
conclusion of each lesson, students volunteered their names to be listed on the board if they
needed additional assistance. In this classroom, there was no stigma attached to needing extra
14
help; on the contrary, students who requested assistance could receive extra time and attention
from the teacher.
Extending Children's Mathematical Thinking
The instructional components of Eliciting and Supporting involve instructional strategies for
accessing and facilitating children's thinking about solution methods with which they are already
familiar. However, these framework components do not capture methods teachers employ to
challenge or extend children's thinking. Strategies observed in Ms. Smith's teaching for advancing
children's progress through their zones of proximal development (Vygotsky, 1978), that is, areas in
which they could learn with assistance, comprise the framework's third component, namely,
Extending Children's Mathematical Thinking (see Table 1). These instructional strategies are
summarized here.
Maintains High Standards and Expectations for All Students
Asks all students to attempt to solve difficult problems. Ms. Smith set high learning goals for all her
students and persistently pushed students to attain them. She expected each student to attempt to
solve every problem, albeit with varying complexity of solution methods and with differing
amounts of scaffolding from the teacher. In some cases she contradicted students who claimed that
they could not solve a problem, told them to work on the problem while the class moved on to
other work, and returned to the original students later in the class for a summary of their
problemsolving strategies.
Encourages Mathematical Reflection
Encourages students to draw generalizations. Ms. Smith challenged students to move beyond their
initial efforts by encouraging them to generalize across concepts on the basis of specific examples
discussed in class. On one occasion she concluded a class discussion of the different number
sentences that could be generated using the numbers 6, 2, and 8. When Ms. Smith began to
distribute dominoes for the next activity, a student raised her hand to describe a generalization
that she had made on the basis of the class discussion. She said, "It doesn't matter which way you
put the numbers together. It will always make the same answer as long as you use the same
numbers." The teacher paused in her distribution task and probed, 1s that true for addition and
subtraction?" The student was then able to determine on her own that her theory held true only for
addition. Ms. Smith did not lose opportunities to extend students' thinking even in the midst of
performing management routines. She not only understood and accepted this student's expression
of commutativity; she immediately had the student extend it to test its generality.
Encourages students to consider relationships among concepts. Ms. Smith encouraged her students to
consider and discuss interrelationships among mathematical concepts. The following exchange
describes a student's attempt to make a pattern with the zero property for subtraction; he tried to
15
apply the subtraction rule for zero to negative five. The teacher herself seemed to get confused
while she was leading the discussion about how to add negative numbers. Remarkably, a second
student, not the teacher, disproved her peer's assertion. The following discussion evolved from the
subject of adding "doubles," illustrating Ms. Smith's willingness to follow student discussions into
domains not part of her plan for that day's lesson.
T:.......What's the last one? [Ms. Smith was eliciting all singledigit "doubles" from stu
..........dents and listing them on the board.]
S]:......Zero plus zero.
T........Zero plus zero.
S2:.....Zero plus zero is just zero.
T........Zero plus zero is easy.
S3:.....Zero minus zero is negative one, isn't it?
T........No. Derrick [S3]. You're on zero [points to the number line] and you take zero
..........jumps. Where are you [giving one context for deciding the answer]?
S3:.....Zero. [Ms. Smith motions to S3 indicating "you got it."]
S4:.....Then negative five plus negative five must be negative five.
T........Pardon me?
S4:.....Negative five plus negative five should be negative five.
T........No, 'cuz you're adding negative five and negative five, so you start at negative five
..........and how many jumps do you take?
S4:.....Five.
T........Well, you're not going to end up on five [points to the negative five on the number
..........line]; you're not going to end up on negative five [modifying her sentence]. So,
..........then negative five.... How many jumps do you take?
S4: Five.
T So where are you going to end up?
S: Zero plus
T ..........No, no, no. Negative five [pause indicating uncertainty]….You're right, Stevie
[S41, You're right (laughs). You see what he did? Ms. Smith was thinking the other
way. Negative five (pause).... Allan, this is hard. You might want to watch it for a
minute. Negative five [she continues slowly with a questioning voice], we're going
..........to add negative five to it. No, it's not right. Is it?
S5:.........[Students speculate as to whether or not zero is the answer.] Yeah, zero's right.
S6:.........No, it's ten. Negative goes that way [motioning toward negative ten, meaning negative five plus
negative five equals negative ten].
T No, it's ten [responding to S51. But you're adding negative five to it, sweetie, so
..........you would go this way [motions toward the left of the number line]. 1 was right.
It's ten. You start at.... Negative five plus five, you end up at zero. But negative
five plus negative five is negative ten. 1 was right. [Ms. Smith whispers seemingly
to reassure herself.] I was right.
S: You thought you were wrong!
T: I did think I was wrong. You confused....
S: Negative five and negative five is negative ten.
16
T: That's right. Negative five plus negative five is negative ten.
This discussion is indicative of the very high level of thinking, conjecturing, and theorizing
that occurred in Ms. Smith's firstgrade classroom, even as early as December, when this
discussion took place. This example also indicates that effective mathematical activity can occur
even when the teacher becomes temporarily confused or when the discourse is confusing.
Teachers do not have to maintain impossibly high standards for themselves. Serious engagement
in complex mathematics may lead to confusing moments that eventually get sorted out, sometimes
even on a different day.
Lists all solution methods on the chalkboard to promote reflection. During class discussions, Ms. Smith
listed the methods students used to solve problems (e.g., use of fingers, number line, number grid)
on the chalkboard. This written record provided students with a reference for reflection on the
various methods used to solve a problem and functioned as a chronicle of the classroom
discussion. Once the list had been generated, Ms. Smith encouraged students to compare and
contrast the proposed solution methods. In addition to fostering children's mathematical
reflection, Ms. Smith's actions highlighted the classroom norm of valuing multiple approaches for
solving mathematical problems. Furthermore, a written record of the various methods might assist
students in following the overall direction of the discussion and might facilitate their participation
in and reflection on it. This teaching practice is similar to that reported for Japanese teachers who
value keeping a summary record of class discussion on the chalkboard or on posters to allow
students to reenter a discussion if their attention temporarily wanders or if they are thinking
about some earlier point and miss a later point (Stigler, 1997).
Goes Beyond Initial Solution Methods
Pushes individual students to try alternative solution methods. Ms. Smith pushed her students to
understand and use alternative solution methods for a single problem situation as well as to
recognize differences among various solution methods. She challenged individual students to
generate multiple solution methods that differed from their initial problemsolving efforts.
Additionally, Ms. Smith required all students, particularly lowachieving students, to try solution
methods presented by their classmates. Her lists of solution methods on the chalkboard facilitated
these efforts. In these ways, Ms. Smith promoted flexibility and depth of understanding in
students' thinking.
Promotes use of more efficient solution methods. Ms. Smith's persistent query "Yes, but is there a
shorter way?" was an indication of her effort to promote thinking that was a step beyond the
demonstrated thinking. Ms. Smith's students began to develop an understanding that although
many solution methods were viable, particular methods were more efficient. Thus, over time, the
class moved toward all students' use and understanding of more efficient methods. Ms. Smith's
ability to promote meaningful use of more efficient solution methods required sensitivity to each
17
child's current and potential understanding so that students were not pushed beyond what they
could do even with appropriate scaffolding.
Uses student generated problems. Instead of drawing only from curriculumdesignated problems,
Ms. Smith used problems generated by students as the primary content of the lesson.
Participation in guiding the class instruction gave children opportunities to go beyond the
expectations of the lesson: Inventing and solving their own complex problems was more
challenging and engaging than solving only problems from the curriculum.
Cultivates Love of Challenge
To extend children's mathematical thinking, a teacher must attend to both affective and
motivational aspects of instruction. Ms. Smith cultivated a love of challenge in her students by
modeling her own enthusiasm, by positively reinforcing students when they tackled problems, by
providing opportunities for student exploration, and by encouraging students to challenge one
another and herself. In her effort to advance students' thinking to higher levels, Ms. Smith
conveyed to her students the attitude that challenges are positive and enriching experiences. She
encouraged her students with such comments as "A challenge! 1 love it," or "Don't tell me. 1 want
to figure it out myself." She provided students with opportunities to challenge her intellectual
authority, thereby contributing to her "summontobattle" sparring style. Her challenging
comments were conveyed in a positive, affirming manner in which there was no loseronly a child
feeling and expressing his or her own mathematical competence.
Intersections Between and Among Components
Particular classroom incidents do not always reside neatly within the boundaries of the ACT
framework's instructional components. Some classroom events fall within the intersection(s)
between and among components because of their multiple pedagogical functions or their various
interpretations. Therefore, it is helpful to particularize the intersections between and among the
three components (see Figure 1). Full descriptions of these instructional strategies are provided by
Fraivillig (1996).
Often during the elicitation process, Ms. Smith prompted students for elaboration and
assisted students in their articulation of their solution methods. She explicitly encouraged students
to give detailed accounts of their solution methods, helped them clarify their thoughts, and
provided sufficient time for them to reflect on and explain their strategies during the elicitation
process. These elicitation methods exemplified instructional techniques residing in the intersection
between eliciting and supporting.
During the elicitation process, Ms. Smith often pushed students to extend their thinking. For
example, she challenged students to reconceptualise target problems by asking the entire class to
generate alternative solution methods. Ms. Smith responded to students' comments with questions
18
like "Does this rule apply in all situations?" or "How did you know that?", thereby demonstrating
her genuine interest in the children's thinking while engaging the students in analyses of the
articulated solution methods. And Ms. Smith highlighted and discussed children's errors, treating
them as opportunities for learning. Ms. Smith often supported students while she extended their
thinking. Her assisted practice for students while they worked to understand and to use more
efficient solution methods exemplified the overlap between the components of supporting and
extending children's thinking.
When considering the learning of all students in light of the ACT framework, we found that
many classroom events possess different aspects of the three teaching components for different
students. For example, support provided for one student may extend the thinking of other
students. To juggle the needs of all students when facilitating learning opportunities, the teacher
conducts ongoing assessment of each student's progression through his or her zone of proximal
development and adjusts instruction to accommodate the range of student learning.
Providing Learning Opportunities in a Safe Environment
Ms. Smith set the stage for advancing children's mathematical thinking by providing
learning opportunities in a safe environment. Her efforts to elicit, support, and extend children's
mathematical thinking occurred within an atmosphere that fostered teamwork and risk taking.
The classroom climate cultivated by Ms. Smith is the critical backdrop for the framework's three
teaching components.
Ms. Smith described various elements of her classroom discourse that foster a safe learning
environment. She demanded that students listen and respect other children's comments and
questions. Ms. Smith explained:
Students may not laugh at another student who is asking a question. That is the only time a student
may be put out of the room. Without this rule, students would stop asking questionswhich stops
learning. Then students feel safe to explore, to do things. Then they are more available to learn and
discuss.
Ms. Smith established this environment by modeling respect for her students' thinking, by
giving positive reinforcement to her students for expressing their thinking, and by
intentionally emphasizing each individual student's strengths. She combined a superficially
tough, nononsense manner with deep affection for her students. Confident that the teacher
would accept their ideas, students freely volunteered explanations of their thinking during
discussions. The rapport and the level of respect between the teacher and the children were
exceptional; learning was a mutual endeavour.
CROSSTEACHER ANALYSIS
The ACT framework was used to analyse the teaching of the five skilful teachers (in addition
to Ms. Smith) in the study. In this section we present noteworthy effective teaching strategies that
19
elaborate aspects of the framework. Most of these effective strategies fall within the Support
component of the ACT framework because supportive teaching was the most prevalent type of
teaching we observed. However, one teacher provided an elicitation technique not observed in Ms.
Smith's teaching, and another teacher exhibited a method Ms. Smith had not used for extending
children's mathematical thinking.
One teacher, Ms. Norris (a fictitious name), employed a teaching technique that promoted the
elicitation process by giving individual students credit for ownership of their ideas. During class
discussions, she often referred to students' solution methods by their owners' names: She
summarized strategies used by students as "Juan's way" or "Alicia's way." Students seemed to take
pride in the ownership of their ideas. Furthermore, in ensuing discussions, students could refer to
their peer's inventions rather than just to impersonal strategies, thereby making the mathematics
feel closer to them. This communal ownership may result in, the students' feeling that the
mathematics is accessible and that the mathematics classroom is participatory and relevant.
Ms. Norris's strategy of assigning ownership names to the solution methods objectified the
students' explanations, making them objects of reflection. In this manner, Ms. Norris could extend
children's thinking by providing students with a collection of these objectified methods that could
then be evaluated for their similarities and differences. Moreover, the named methods could be
added to the class's repertoire for future reference, thereby creating ongoing coherence in
classroom discussions. This teaching technique can be compared with Ms. Smith's strategy of
listing students' solution methods on the chalkboard. Both of these approaches support students'
reflection and discussion.
Although elicitation of children's thinking is a significant element of the learning process, it
is infrequently observed in traditional mathematics classrooms (Cazden, 1988). It also was not
often observed in classrooms of the participating teachers using the EM curriculum, even when
this practice was explicitly part of the described lesson. Diamond and Fuson (1997) analysed
solution methods elicited by 12 of the 18 EM teachers who taught one of two observed fall lessons
on word problems. For 8 of these 12 teachers, the total number of solution methods elicited
throughout the lesson ranged from 0 to 10, with a mean of only 3.5 methods. Of these 8 teachers, 3
elicited no solution methods, 2 elicited between 1 and 4, and 3 teachers elicited between 6 and 10.
Of the remaining 4 teachers, one elicited 14 methods, one 15, one 22, and one 42.
Five of the 12 teachers never elicited a second solution method for a given problem, and 4
more did so only once or twice. Only 3 teachers elicited at least three solution methods for a given
problem at least three times during the lesson. Only 1 of the 3, Ms. Smith, had both breadth of
elicitation (strategies elicited for different problems) and depth of elicitation (eight methods
elicited for one problem, seven for another, and six for another). Analysis of the remaining 6 of the
18 teachers focused on a lesson on odd and even number patterns instead of word problems. These
teachers had similarly low levels of elicitation of descriptions of number patterns; no teacher
approached Ms. Smiths level in elicitation of children's thinking.
The subset of six skilful teachers did exhibit potentially productive methods for supporting
children's mathematical thinking. Described here are the supportive strategies observed in these
teachers' classrooms as well as our proposed extensions that could maximize the instructional
effectiveness of the indicated strategies.
20
First, to support the thinking of all the students in the class, some teachers used wholeclass
participation to test a child's solution method. Teachers achieved this level of participation by.
leading the class through one child's solution method so that everyone solved the problem
together in a stepbystep manner, thus allowing students to understand a method more fully than
if it were merely described or demonstrated.
Second, several teachers were observed demonstrating teacher selected solution methods.
Teachers exhibiting this teaching strategy seemed to hold a range of instructional goals. Teachers
at one end of a continuum seem to have been encouraging students to adopt the teacherselected
method as "the best or right method and thereby, at least implicitly, repressing the students'
proposal of methods. Teachers at the other end of the continuum may have been introducing a
teacherselected solution method to model an especially accessible or mathematically interesting
method that had not been generated by the students. This approach can be consistent with the
recommendations of the NCTM Standards (1989, 1991) if it supports children's construction of
personally meaningful solution methods or promotes reflection on a variety of solution methods.
To achieve either of these goals, it seems desirable to include a caveat explicitly stating the viability
of all methods and an extending request that students evaluate two or more described methods.
Third, teachers allowed students to rethink and rectify their responses, thus demonstrating
another strategy for supporting children's thinking. In one classroom, the teacher elicited several
answers from students. After the correct answer was determined by the class, the teacher asked
the students who had supplied incorrect responses if they wanted to "change their minds,"
sometimes using verbal cues during such questioning ("Are you sure you want to keep your
answer?"). Such subtle pressure prior to or in the absence of a class discussion to evaluate the
methods does not support student understanding. This eliciting and revising cycle did indicate the
teacher's acceptance of errors, a critical aspect in cultivating a safe classroom environment.
However, the teacher failed to probe the thinking underlying the errors, thereby losing an
opportunity for all students to deepen their mathematical understanding.
Analysing and comparing are additional means of extending students' mathematical
thinking. One teacher emphasized this type of mathematical reflection by asking students to
analyse a class chart indicating data about the number of family members and the number of total
fingers in a family. Firstgrade students were able to use the chart data to draw conclusions about
the relationships between the two variables. This teacher went beyond the curriculum lesson plan
to capitalize on an interesting mathematical opportunity.
21
CONCLUSION
In the ACT framework introduced in this article, we have organized observed instructional
strategies, making explicit the interrelated practices of Eliciting, Supporting, and Extending. The
crossteacher analysis using the ACT framework indicated that although many teachers in our
study supported children's thinking to significant degrees, far fewer elicited student explanations
of solution methods or extended children's mathematical thinking to higher levels. A partial
explanation for these differences lies in the kinds of pedagogical skills necessary for carrying out
Eliciting, Supporting, and Extending.
In supporting students' thinking, the teachers in this study used various readily identifiable
techniques: breaking down the problem, giving time to rethink, and providing a demonstration.
Supporting students' thinking is a skill with which most teachers seem comfortable, particularly
when the solution method is one that the teacher selects. Supporting a child's carrying out of a
teacher's method is consistent with traditional notions of didactic teaching, so many teachers have
had extensive experience with this type of instruction. However, some teachers did have students
demonstrate and describe their own solution methods, thereby departing somewhat from a strictly
didactic model.
In contrast, elicitation of students' descriptions of solution methods was observed less often.
Clearly, eliciting and then using student descriptions of mathematical thinking is a complex and
timeconsuming task requiring patience, skill, and high levels of knowledge about individual
children and about typical solution methods in major mathematical areas. Additionally, the
elicitation of student solution procedures requires effective classroom management so that all
students can become participants in problemsolving discussions. A teacher must view the
curriculum in terms of progressions of teachersupported and teacherled solution methods by
children rather than just in terms of covering the lessons in the textbook. Successful elicitation also
requires a teacher who is willing and able to relax intellectual control sufficiently for children to
respond with their own solution methods. Furthermore, the teacher must have the ability to leave
behind old habits and models of teaching acquired during years of life as a student and as a
traditional teacher.
Extending children's mathematical thinking was also observed infrequently relative to the
level of instances of supporting that was observed among the teachers in our study. The single
teacher (Ms. Smith) who consistently extended her students' thinking encouraged mathematical
reflection, particularly the activities of analysing, comparing, and generalizing. She also asked
individual students to try more efficient and challenging solution methods. Extending thinking
was not limited to the thinking of "advanced" students; this teacher asked all students to try
difficult problems. This practice required information about each child's learning history in
addition to a realistic yet hopeful view of each child's potential.
Although not all participating teachers exhibited teaching strategies that promoted children's
mathematical thinking to the extent demonstrated by Ms. Smith, most teachers conducted
productive mathematics lessons. Students in these classes were excited by and engaged in
mathematics activities. The teachers were talking about and reflecting on their own mathematics
instruction. Overall, mathematics teaching and learning were exciting endeavours in these EM
22
classrooms: Teachers were taking the first steps in creating classrooms that reflect
recommendations described in the Standards (NCTM, 1989, 199 1). Many teachers therefore had a
basis on which they could build while they began to increase their effectiveness in advancing
children's mathematical thinking.
Teachers who are ready to relinquish intellectual authority and empower their students to
conceptualise mathematics in meaningful ways will need guidance in taking these steps. One
straightforward yet promising avenue for such guidance is to make readily available to a user of an
inquiry curriculum common solution methods and errors that teachers are likely to encounter
from students, with a sense of the progressions over the year (i.e., learning trajectories, Simon,
1995) in student thinking typical over each particular grade. Such information is included in
Japanese text materials for teachers (Stevenson & Stigler, 1992). Having this type of resource may
increase teachers' confidence about facing possible classroom discussion scenarios. Moreover,
teacher resource materials could include specific teaching examples such as those presented in this
article. Classroom teachers require images of effective teaching to guide their professional
development: They need to know what this new teaching can look like (Schifter, 1996a, 1996b;
Sternberg & Horvath, 1995). Descriptions of the strategies identified in the framework can provide
robust images of effective mathematics teaching for teachers' reflection and can help teachers set
realistic standards while they reevaluate their teaching goals. In addition, videotapes of such
teaching examples could help teachers construct images of teaching in new ways.
In summary, the development of classroom climates conducive to elicitation and support of
student explanations and extension of student thinking is clearly a timeconsuming endeavour
requiring great patience, sensitivity, knowledge, and skill on the part of the teacher. Ultimately,
our finding of low rates of incidence of successful elicitation and extension of student thinking
provides convincing evidence of the need for emphasis on these very challenging skills in
teachereducation programs and for additional supports for these skills in mathematics curricula.
The ACT framework introduced in this article can contribute to educational research, teacher
education, and curriculum design. Using it as a research tool, we have increased our
understanding of the differences among teaching practices. We found that many teachers
smoothly conducted their lessons without ever explicitly focusing on children's mathematical
thinking for extended periods of time. In a broader context, this framework may be useful as a
mechanism for organizing complex classroom data and for evaluating instruction. As a common
point of reference, the framework can be used by researchers and practitioners to inform and
anchor their discourse about mathematical teaching practice. By making explicit the teaching
processes associated with a problemsolving orientation in general, the ACT framework can be a
useful pedagogical tool for preservice and inservice teacher education. Furthermore, the ACT
framework can be used to guide curriculum design efforts to support teachers' understanding of
productive mathematical activity for learners.
REFERENCES
Bell, J., & Bell, M. (1995). First grade everyday mathematics: Teacher's manual and lesson guide (2nd ed.).
Chicago: Everyday Learning Corporation.
23
Carpenter, T. P., Fennema, E., Peterson, P. L., & Carey, D. A. (1988). Teachers' pedagogical content
knowledge of students' problem solving in elementary arithmetic. Journal for Research in
Mathematics Education, 19, 38540 1.
Carpenter, T. P., Fennema, E., Peterson, P. L., Chiang, C. P., & Loef, M. (1989). Using knowledge of
children's mathematics thinking in classroom teaching: An experimental study. American
Educational Research Journal, 26, 49953 1.
Cazden, C. B. (1988). Classroom discourse: The language of teaching and learning. Portsmouth, NII:
Heinemann.
Cobb, P., Wood, T., Yackel, E., & McNeal, B. (1992). Characteristics of classroom mathematics
traditions: An interactional analysis. American Educational Research Journal, 29, 573604.
Cobb, P., Yackel, E., & Wood, T. (1989). Young children's emotional acts while engaged in
mathematical problem solving. In D. B. McLeod & V. M. Adams (Eds.), Affect and mathematical
problem solving: A new perspective (pp. 117148). New York: SpringerVerlag.
Cobb, P., Yackel, E., & Wood, T. (1993). Learning mathematics: Multiple perspectives: Theoretical
orientation. In T. Wood, P. Cobb, E. Yackel, & D. Dillon (Eds.), Rethinking elementary school
mathematics: Insights and issues. Journal for Research in Mathematics Education Monograph Number
6 (pp. 2132). Reston, VA: National Council of Teachers of Mathematics.
Confrey, J. (1995). How compatible are radical constructivism, sociocultural approaches, and social
constructivism? In L. P. Steffe & J. Gale (Eds.), Constructivism in education (pp. 185225). Hillsdale,
NJ: Erlbaum.
Connelly, F. M., & Clandinin, D. J. (1990). Stories of experience and narrative inquiry. Educational
Researcher, 19 (5), 214.
Diamond, A., & Fuson, K. C. (1997). Types of teacher questions in Everyday Mathematics classrooms.
Manuscript in preparation.
Elliott, J. (1988). Educational research and outsiderinsider relations. Qualitative Studies in Education,
1, 155166.
Fraivillig, J. L. (1995, April). Advancing children's mathematical thinking: A case study of an expert
teacher. Paper presented at the annual meeting of the American Educational Research
Association, San Francisco.
Fraivillig, J. L. (1996). Case studies and instructional frameworks of expert reform mathematics
teaching. Dissertation Abstracts International, 57, 2400A. (University Microfilms No. 9632689)
Fuson, K. C., Diamond, A., & Fraivillig, J. L. (1997). Implementation of reform norms in Everyday
Mathematics classrooms. Manuscript in preparation.
Greeno, J. B. (1988). For the study of mathematics epistemology. In R. 1. Charles & E. A. Silver
(Eds.), A research agenda for mathematics education: The teaching and assessing of mathematical problem
solving (pp. 233 1). Hillsdale, NJ: ErIbaurn.
Helix Express (Version 2.0) [Computer software]. (1993). Prospect Heights, IL: Helix Technologies.
National Council of Teachers of Mathematics. (1989). Curriculum and evaluation standards for school
mathematics. Reston, VA: Author.
National Council of Teachers of Mathematics. (1991). Professional standards for teaching mathematics.
Reston, VA: Author.
Peterson, P. L., Carpenter, T. P., & Fennema, E. (1989). Teachers' knowledge of students' knowledge
in mathematics problem solving: Correlational and case analyses. Journal of Educational
Psychology, 81, 558569.
Richardson, V. (1994). Conducting research on practice. Educational Researcher, 23(5), 510.
24
Schifter, D. (Ed.). (1996a). What's happening in math class? Volume 1: Envisioning new practices through
teacher narratives. New York: Teachers College Press.
Schifter, D. (Ed.). (1996b). What's happening in math class? Volume 2: Reconstructing professional identities.
New York: Teachers College Press.
Simon, M. A. (1995). Reconstructing mathematics pedagogy from a constructivist perspective. Journal
for Research in Mathematics Education, 26, 114145.
Stein, M. K., Grover, B. W., & Silver, E. A. (1991). Changing instructional practice: A conceptual
framework for capturing the details. In R. G. Underhill (Ed.), Proceedings of the thirteenth annual
meeting of the North American Chapter of the International Group for the Psychology of Mathematics
Education (Vol. 1, pp. 3642). Blacksburg: Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University.
Stemberg, R. L, & Horvath, J. A. (1995). A prototype view of expert teaching. Educational Researcher,
24(6), 917.
Stevenson, H. W., & Stigler, J. W. (1992). The learning gap: Wily our schools are failing and what we can learn
from Japanese and Chinese education. New York: Summit Books.
Stigler, J. W. (1997, March). Classroom mathematics instruction in Germany, Japan, and the United States: An
introduction to the TIMSS videotape classroom study. Paper presented at the annual meeting of the
American Educational Research Association, Chicago.
von Glasersfeld, E. (1987). Learning as a constructive activity. In C. Janvier (Ed.), Problems of
representation in the teaching and learning of mathematics (pp. 317). Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.
Vygotsky, L. S. (1978). Mind in society: The development of higher psychological processes (M. Cole, V.
JohnSteiner, S. Scribner, & E. Souberman, Eds.). Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
Yackel, E. (1995). Children's talk in inquiry mathematics classrooms. In P. Cobb & H. Bauersfeld (Eds.),
The emergence of mathematical meaning: Interaction in classroom cultures (pp. 131162). Hillsdale, NJ:
Erlbaum.
Yackel, E., Cobb, P., & Wood, T. (1991). Smallgroup interactions as a source of learning opportunities in
secondgrade mathematics. Journal for Research in Mathematics Education, 22, 390408.
Authors
Judith L. Fraivillig, Assistant Professor, Department of Undergraduate Education, Rider University,
2083 Lawrenceville Road, Lawrenceville, NJ 086483099; fraivillig@rider.edu
Lauren A. Murphy, Graduate Student, School of Education and Social Policy, 2115 N. Campus Drive,
Northwestern University, Evanston, IL 60208
Karen C. Fuson, Professor, School of Education and Social Policy, 2115 N. Campus Drive, Northwestern
University, Evanston, IL 60208
25