Textbook to Instruction: The Effect of Coherency on the Transition of Elementary Mathematical Connection-Making Opportunities

• In Event: 72.049 - Roundtable Session 34
  In Roundtable Session: 72.049-13 - Understanding Effective Instructional Practices in Mathematics Education

Abstract

The objective of this study was to examine if the coherency of a textbook effects how expert elementary mathematics teachers transition textbook connection-making opportunities into classroom instruction. Although some researchers argue that minimally coherent textbooks may be problematic for beginning learners (Novick, 1988; Pearson et al., 1979), a minimally coherent text might be beneficial in forcing learners to actively facilitate their own connection-making (Mannes & Kintch, 1987).
A directed content analysis (Hsieh & Shannon, 2005) was used to create a framework for connection making. Connection-making scores for expert teachers who used the less coherent Investigations, was higher than the textbook scores. Interestingly, expert teachers who used the more coherent GO Math curriculum, scored lower than their textbook scores.

Author

• Ryan Scott Hassler, Temple University