Getting to “Why?”: Teacher Practices That Support Mathematically Sound Student Justifications in Middle Grades Classrooms

• In Event: Poster Session 18
  In Poster Session: Teachers’ Beliefs, Knowledge, and Instructional Practice

Abstract

Though the mathematical and education communities both value justification and argumentation in the middle grades classrooms, teachers have historically found these cognitively demanding practices difficult to support. This paper discusses teaching practices that are associated with high levels of mathematically acceptable argumentation. Data were collected on seven accomplished teachers participating in a professional develop program centered on justification. Participants implemented the same justification task over two years. Thus the data reflect fourteen different implementations of the same task, allowing us to compare lessons directly. The findings describe how teachers’ attendance to students’ thinking, along with other practices, can affect the level of justification in the classroom.

Authors

• Megan E. Staples, University of Connecticut

• Briana Hennessy, University of Connecticut