What Can We Learn About the Differences Between Experts and Novices From a Teaching Simulation?

• In Event: 45.095 - Sheraton Roundtable Seven - Osgoode Ballroom
  In Roundtable Session: 45.095-1 - Mathematics Teachers Instructional Decision Making

Abstract

Policymakers have offered “facilitating meaningful discourse” and “implementing tasks that promote reasoning and problem solving” (NCTM, 2014) as productive instructional practices with potential benefits for student learning. We designed a simulation to observe if high school geometry expert and novice teachers chose to implement these practices during work on a proof problem. We found that novice teachers tended to open the discussion less. While all teachers preferred presenting multiple solutions, experts chose to do so less when there was little time remaining during class. This suggests that the viability of recommendations for practice is contingent on situational conditions. It may be possible to improve the uptake of recommended practices by addressing the tensions involved in their implementation in different conditions.

Authors

• Mollee Changshu Shultz, University of Michigan - Ann Arbor

• Emanuele Bardelli, University of Michigan - Ann Arbor

• Amanda Marie Milewski, University of Michigan - Ann Arbor

• Nicolas Boileau, University of Michigan

• Patricio G. Herbst, University of Michigan - Ann Arbor