Culturally Specific Perspectives on Quality Mathematics Teaching

Session Type: Symposium

Abstract

Mathematics teaching is specific to each cultural setting and enacts pedagogical traditions that have evolved in ways that are valued in that culture. Consequently, quality teaching will be conceptualised in different ways in different cultures. Researchers in the Learner’s Perspective Study have access to detailed records of the classroom practice of locally identified “competent teachers” in a dozen cultures employing various pedagogies. The papers in this symposium explore the diverse ways that well-taught classrooms in San Diego, Berlin, Tokyo, Hong Kong and Shanghai, drawing on different pedagogical traditions (cultures), can each represent recognizable examples of quality teaching. Separately, the papers document the cultural specificity of quality teaching; in combination, they suggest regularities that might become pedagogical principles transcending cultural context.

Sub Unit

• SIG-Research in Mathematics Education

Chair

• Yoshinori Shimizu, University of Tsukuba

Papers

• Quality Teaching in One San Diego Classroom: Scaffolding Student Mathematical Narratives - David J. Clarke, University of Melbourne; Carmel Mesiti, University of Melbourne

• Characterizing Experienced Teachers’ Questioning in Mathematics Classrooms: Questioning as a Window for Examining Quality Teaching - Yoshinori Shimizu, University of Tsukuba; Yuka Koizumi, University of Tsukuba

• What Matters for His Students: Quality Teaching From the Classroom of a Hong Kong Mathematics Teacher - Ida Ah Chee Mok, University of Hong Kong

• Matches or Discrepancies? Student Perceptions and Teacher Intentions in Chinese Mathematics Classrooms - Rongjin Huang, Middle Tennessee State University; Angela T Barlow, Middle Tennessee State University

Discussant

• Kirsti Klette, University of Oslo