Confronting Oneself to Notice for Equity in Mathematics Classrooms

• In Event: Conceptualizing Teacher Noticing in Research on Teaching and Teacher Learning

Abstract

Objective
The purpose of this study is to test a self-noticing activity in an elementary mathematics methods course intended to support pre-service teachers (PSTs) to confront their preconceived notions of mathematics teaching and learning and learn to enact equitable practices. We describe the activity, report on PSTs engagement with it, and propose revisions for its second iteration.
Perspectives/Theoretical Framework
This study is guided by sociocultural theories of learning (Lave & Wenger, 1991) and research that focus on noticing for equity (Hand, 2012; Jilk, 2016), critical reflection (Liu, 2015), self-confrontation (Rix & Lièvre, 2010), and teachers’ noticing to improve teaching (Author, 2011). The study answers the following research questions:
How did primary PSTs self-notice their language and actions towards students and critically reflect on their assumptions and biases of children’s mathematics learning?
a. To what extent did the candidates attend to, analyze, and/or respond to their noticing of their own assumptions and biases?
b. What were the affordances of the task in terms of developing competencies to notice to improve teaching?
Originally designed by a science teacher educator and researcher for secondary PSTs (Author et al., 2019), the self-noticing activity was adapted to the context of elementary mathematics methods for primary PSTs. The activity was embedded in two experiences: 1) PSTs conducted 1-on-1 interviews with first graders over a story problem; 2) PSTs taught a small-group mini lesson in triads to the same students they interviewed. The self-noticing activity involved a set of experiences, shown in Figure 1, and culminated to a self-reflection task. PSTs completed the self-noticing activity for both learning experiences.
Data Sources
Participants were 23 PSTs who were enrolled in a ten-week mathematics methods course in a MAT program at a large public university on the west coast. PSTs self-identified as female (96%), male (4%); White (30%), Asian(26%), Hispanic/Latinx (30%), and Other (13%). Data sources included: PSTs’ coursework artifacts, video-recorded discussion with colleagues, reflection responses from on the self-noticing activity, lesson plans, and interviews.
Modes of Inquiry
Through an iterative process of reviewing the literature and frameworks, we tested and refined the coding schemes. We primarily drew on the noticing framework (Jacobs et al., 2010) to analyze the reflection responses produced from the self-noticing activity.
Results
The task worked as planned in that all candidates attended to their assumptions and biases; 50% attended and analyzed; and one-sixth attended, analyzed, and responded. The activity could be improved by better connecting and integrating it with other teacher preparation experiences, including coursework and fieldwork. In addition, prompts can be better designed to support candidates to reflect on their underlying beliefs about mathematics learning and teaching.
Scholarly Significance
This study expands our understanding of noticing for equity and underlines the importance of designing coherent learning experiences to better support PSTs to enact equitable practices.

Authors

• Jiwon Lee, University of California - Irvine

• Rossella Santagata, University of California - Irvine

• Jody Guarino, university of california, irvine